Harry Potter The Death of Magic
by mondas42
Summary: A Sixth Year story about Harry and Hermione. How will the world cope without magic. Can anyone stop the plans of Voldemort to destroy magic? Rated for Violence and some sexual scenes.
1. Prologue  Beginnings

**Harry Potter – The Death of Magic.**

**Prologue – Beginnings**

_Egypt 3110 B.C. long before the Pharaohs and Gods_

The sun rose quickly in the early summer time casting its relentless heat on the Delta. The only source of relief from its heat came near the water's edge, but this relief was countered by the swarms of early morning flying insects that populated the Delta. A little way from the edge stood a large building site in its late stages of construction. One of the clan chiefs had decided that this was where he wanted to build his town after he had won the area in a large battle four years ago. Khenti was a good leader and commanded many strong warriors. He brought peace and prosperity to the region and had decided that the nomadic life he grew up with was over and he ordered the slaves to build him a town here at Giza. So a long plan of building had begun, first with crude mud huts, but after a seam of sandstone was discovered nearby, the best buildings were been upgraded to stone. The stone masons were amongst the elite of the slaves and commanded much respect, although they were still slaves they were well treated and fed and were allowed to marry and have children. They jealously guarded the skills of working the stone and would only pass the knowledge on to a few apprentices; often their own sons. On this morning Hêtshepsu woke early as his father had taught him. He was a hard working young man and was never one to shirk responsibility. His father, Itafê, used to be the head stone mason and now he had inherited the role and as such was an important slave. When his father was alive he had been allowed with the chief's permission to marry his mother, Mkit and he was born over seventeen years ago. Hêtshepsu was an unusual child when he was growing up, quiet and given to long periods of solitude. The other children would often tease him especially Kamenwati, the son of the overseer. However strange things would often happened around Hêtshepsu. One particular incident seemed to stick in his mind. When Hêtshepsu was eleven years of age, he had been sent on an errand for his father. He had to go to the stone cutters and ask for an extra block of stone to be cut for the new building. A pair of idiots in the work gangs had dropped one of the blocks and it had cracked rendering it useless thus causing the need for a replacement. As Hêtshepsu ran to the quarry, his sandals flapping on the rough path, he suddenly found his way blocked by Kamenwati and his two idiotic friends.

"So where are you running to? Another errand for Baba?"

"Out of the way Wati, or I'll report you to the guards, this is official town business."

The older boy looked angry at the use of the shortened version of his name, a great insult in the culture.

"Why you insolent little slave, I will teach you a lesson you will never forget." And with that he pulled out his long bronze knife and moved towards Hêtshepsu, with the knife held low. Hêtshepsu didn't have time for this, the builder gangs were waiting for the block and so was his father. He moved back from Kamenwati as if to avoid the conflict but the bully was expecting this and suddenly lunged the knife towards Hêtshepsu belly. As he saw the knife coming towards him, he suddenly felt a strong wave of power come from him and when he looked up he saw Kamenwati and his goons lying in a heap a good distance away from him moaning slightly. He looked down and saw his hand pointing outwards as if to ward of a blow, but he swore he never made contact with the older boy. He shrugged and thanked the gods and continued with his errand. From that day Kamenwati never bothered him again.

Today however, things were different. No longer was he a child and apprentice but now he was the master stone mason. His father had died in an accident four years ago and by rite and tradition he now was in charge. He dressed and kissed his wife Hêtshepsit as he left. He had only been married for a week and one day hoped that she would bear him many children. He walked happily to the site, it was nearing completion and they had just finished the chief's new hall. They were now working on the temple for the gods. As he approached the main site area, his assistant ran up to him with the news of the day. They spent a little while discussing the schedule and the slave teams needed for the work before he left for the site inspection. This was a routine that Hêtshepsu always did. He would tour the works, complementing the good work and ordering corrections for the mistakes. He would always speak to the slave teams, and consequently he was a popular master. Today he came to the main entrance to the temple, the stone pillar had been erected yesterday and the main lintel was balanced in place, held by rope until the rest could be finished. As he looked around, suddenly the vine rope holding the lintel snapped causing the massive stone block to move to one side. This caused the nearest pillar to Hêtshepsu to twist and collapse towards him. As he looked up, knowing he could not escape in time, he raised his hand and thought that he really didn't want to die. At this thought a golden shimmering shield rose up around him and protected him as the blocks fell around him.

When the slave team finally managed to move all the blocks they were astonished to find Hêtshepsu alive and well, if a little dusty. It was declared a miracle by the priests and Hêtshepsu was honoured and praised by the people of the town. As he grew older he had many children, all born with the same power as their father. As time progressed and the children grew and married, they in turn passed on the mysterious power of there be-loved ancestor. After many generations these off-spring would grow more and more powerful leading them to take the names of the Gods of Egypt, such as Ra, Set, Osiris and Anubis. Years would pass before the "Gods" decided to leave the civilisation and let them grow on their own. Instead they would develop their own society of magic users and learn more about the powers they had. As the generations and eons passed they would take the name of wizards and witch, develop schools and eventually give rise to a small young boy with black hair and piercing green eyes.

Name Meanings

Hêtshepsu = First among noble men

Hêtshepsit = First among noble women

Kamenwati = "Dark Rebel"

Itafê = Father

Mkit = Housewife

Baba – word for father

Khenti = Leader


	2. Chapter 1 Troubled Times

**Chapter One – Troubled times.**

_The Granger home July 6__th__ 1996 11:35 PM_

Hermione Granger was once again struggling to sleep. She had been plagued with nightmares since the events that took place in the Department of Mysteries. Every time she tried to sleep she could see the purple curse that Dolohov had hit her with coming towards her. She had never been so afraid before and she hated the feeling. Recently however her dreams had evolved and every night she witnessed her friends been killed one by one as she was forced to watch. Every night she would wake up sweating and crying, occasionally she would scream in her sleep waking up her parents who would come and sit with her until she calmed down. Even though her parents were Muggles she had told them everything that had happened that night and she loved them even more for supporting and helping her. Her mother had been particularly worried about her only child and would often sit outside her room until she knew that Hermione had gone to sleep. Tonight however Mrs Granger had gone straight to bed as she had looked in earlier and thought that Hermione was asleep so she left leaving Hermione on her own. Hermione was aware that her night time escapades were keeping her parents up so she had feigned sleep. Once she was sure her mother had retired for the night, Hermione sat up and punched her pillow in frustration. She looked around her bedroom and smiled in spite of herself at the toys of her childhood. Those represented happier days before she knew she was a witch and had none of the worries she now carried. She loved been a witch and she loved studying at Hogwarts, but it was not a happy time in the Wizarding world at the moment. It was now known that Voldermort had returned and everywhere you went in her world, the fear and worry could be seen on people's faces.

Hermione was very tired, the lack of sleep was evident on her face, she was looking very tired and drawn with large bags under her eyes. As she looked around the room her eyes came to rest on the photo at the side of her bed. It was of herself with her two best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. It was taken during happier times and was supposed to show them all sat under a tree near the lake. For some reason today Ron was missing from the photo and Hermione was shown sat with Harry alone, her head resting on his shoulder. They were both smiling at each other in a way that made Hermione slightly uncomfortable. Nevertheless she took the photo and held it in her arms. As she laid there with the photo in her arms, she started to relax and eventually she finally drifted off to sleep.

_The Burrow _

Ronald Weasley was troubled. He'd heard little from his friends since they returned from Hogwarts. It was usual for him not to hear from Harry, as he stupid relatives would often not allow him to send any post, but he usually got regular letters from Hermione. Other than a brief message to say she was home and safe, she had not contacted him. Ron felt a little upset about this as he was unsure on how he felt about Hermione. He had always liked her, his constant arguing a way to cover up his feelings, but recently he was unsure if he felt the same way. Since he had been home, his sister's best friend, Luna 'Loony' Lovegood had been around a lot as she only lived a short distance away. As Ron had no other friends in the area he had inevitable been spending time with the two girls, and he had started too really like the time he spent with Luna. Sure, she was as mad as bag of frogs, but she was also incredibly kind and gentle with a surprisingly sharp intelligence. He wasn't sure but he thought he was starting to fall for her and besides he stood no chance with Hermione. Even though people would often say that Ron was oblivious to the feelings of the people around him, this was not true. Growing up as one of seven children made it impossible not to be able to reads peoples moods. Ron's only problem was once of expectation. He was Harry's best mate, but he knew he was the sidekick. That's was fine, Ron was not born to be a leader, but he often had to play the role of stupid sidekick and it eventually became second nature. Ron however, was not a stupid boy, in fact he was very intelligent when it suited him, but he knew he was always going to play second fiddle to Harry, and that meant that sometimes he just didn't bother to try. That said in a piece of fantastic insight for him, he knew that Hermione was deeply in love with someone else, and that someone else was deeply in love with Hermione. The only problem was they were too daft not to see if for themselves.

Even so the constant lack of contact from either Hermione or Harry troubled him.

_The Granger home – July 7__th__ 1996 1:23 am_

Hermione was rooted to the spot; she was standing in the main atrium of the Ministry of Magic building. Ron was beside her on the floor, dead, Luna and Ginny were a few feet away from her dying from horrific wounds. Dumbledore had fallen earlier, his body a broken ruin near the fountain. Harry was knelt on his knees in front of a tall thin man, wearing dark green robes. The man had his wand raised in triumph above his head and he was surrounded by his army of Death Eaters. Harry wand was broken, and he was bleeding from multiple wounds. Worst still was the look of utter despair on his face as he turned to look at Hermione. Voldemort laughed, turning to Harry

"So, this is how it ends for the Chosen One. On his knees, before his betters, about to die. His friends and loyal supporters all dead and we are at the beginning of a glorious new age, the age of Voldemort!"

He moved his wand to point to Harry and uttered the last words Harry would ever hear,

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" as the green light enveloped him, Harry just looked at Hermione with despair in his eyes, Hermione couldn't move or stop the curse, so she did the only thing she could do, she screamed.

"HAAAAARRRRRYYYYYYY! NOOOOO!"

Mr and Mrs Granger were fast asleep when they were woken by an ear piercing scream. Both sat bolt upright in bed, temporally confused as to where they were and what was happening. Mr Granger looked over at his wife.

"Jean, its Hermione again, do you want me to go?"

"No Roger, I'll go, you try to go back to sleep."

Jean Granger got up out of bed and quickly went to her daughter's room. Hermione was sat up in bed crying hysterically. Jean had not seen her as bad as this before and ran to her daughter's side.

"Hermione, it's okay, it was only a dream."

Hermione was unable to talk for a while, and sobbed into her mother's embrace. After a while Hermione tried to talk.

"H-H-He's dead! Voldermort killed him."

"Who's dead darling?"

"Harry mum, Harry's dead. I saw him and all the others die."

Jean wasn't surprised that this was about Harry. He was Hermione's constant source of conversation. Indeed in every letter that her daughter had ever sent home, Harry was the one person she would talk about. It was so evident to Jean's eyes that her one and only child was hopelessly and deeply in love with Harry, but just wouldn't admit it to herself. She had met Harry briefly and had liked the young man, and judging from the looks he kept throwing to Hermione, he felt the same about her. However Jean knew that she couldn't interfere with the natural progression of the feelings the two had for one another. They would have to figure it out for themselves.

"Darling, it was only a dream, both Harry and the rest of your friends escaped." She knew about Sirius, Harry's Godfather, but thought it best not to mention that at the moment.

"Hermione look at me" Hermione continued to keep her head down, so Jean gently lifted her daughters chin so her eyes met hers. "Hermione, it was only a dream. Harry and your friends are alive" she repeated.

Hermione looked at her mother with tears still in her eyes. "It seemed so real Mum. I can't lose hi..them"

"I know dear. Let's get you back to sleep." And so Jean lay with her daughter until she fell back into an uneasy sleep before returning to her room.

_July 7__th__ 1996 06:32am_

Jean was awoken to the sound of the phone ringing. She looked over to the bedside clock to see the time. "Who the hell is ringing at this time in the morning?" she muttered to herself. Roger had woken as well and was trying to find his dressing gown. Jean got up and went downstairs passing a sleepy looking Hermione on the way. She picked up the receiver to take the call. Hermione tried to listen to the conversation.

"Hello"

"No, I'm her mother Dr Jean Granger, whose speaking please?"

"Oh God, is he okay?"

"Why Hermione?"

"Yes I see; we'll be right there. What ward is he on?"

"Ok thanks you, we'll be there as soon as we can."

Jean replaced the receiver and shut her eyes for a few seconds, before shouting up the stairs.

"Hermione can you come here a second please"

Hermione ran down the stairs already aware something terrible had happened. "Mum, what's wrong?"

"Darling, we need to get you to the Royal Free hospital in London. It's Harry – he's had an accident."

"Oh my God! Is he alright?"

"Darling, I'm afraid not. I know this is going to be a shock, but you have to know. It seems he had a bit of an accident and fallen down some stairs. The police say he's been beaten as well and has a significant head injury and he's in a deep coma."

Roger had come downstairs and was stood behind his daughter, this was a good thing as it turned out, because as soon as Jean had told Hermione that Harry was in coma, Hermione fainted clean away and Roger was only just able to catch her before she hit the ground.

_4 Privet Drive, 71 hours earlier._

Harry Potter lay on his bed starring at the ceiling. He'd spent hours just lying there hardly moving for days now. Every time he tried to sleep he would either see Sirius falling through the veil, or he would see the image of Hermione lying dead from the curse that hit her. The last image would play on his imagination for hours and the intensity of his feelings surprised him. The only time he would get up was to go to the loo, or to go and eat the food that his Aunt would leave outside the door for him. Despite his depression, Harry was not suicidal, he knew he had to keep his strength up and would eat everything that was left for him, no matter how horrible Aunt Petunia tried to make it. The gravy made with curry powder was a particular favourite of hers, but he never said anything and ate the lot. He would sometimes try to read some of his school text books and silently practice the spells in his head. Off course he couldn't use his wand, the Ministry prevented any underage magic from been performed, but he felt that at least reading about the spells would keep him from thinking about Sirius. The other reason he kept to his room was that recently his Uncle had stepped up the violence towards Harry, who now sported multiple bruises on his arms and chest. Since he had learnt that Sirius was dead, it seemed that Vernon was really trying to hurt Harry now for some reason and Dudley would often help his father. Aunt Petunia would often look like she was about to stop the violence but never did, and so Harry had taken to staying in his room. This change in his uncle's behaviour had frightened him. He felt it was entirely possible that Vernon would try to really harm Harry. Normally he would have sent Hedwig to get help but she was staying with Ron as Vernon had not allowed her to come home with Harry. Harry was so scared that he had written on a scrap of paper that if he went missing or was hurt to contact Hermione Granger and he left a phone number. He also asked that she be considered his next of kin although he didn't know if this was legal or not in the Muggle world.

Harry had decided that he really needed to pee, so he silently got up and listened at the door to make sure no one was around. Happy that everyone was downstairs, he moved across the landing to the small bathroom to relieve himself. Once he was done he moved to wash his hands, when he heard his Uncle clumping up the stairs and trying to open the door.

"BOY, GET OUT OF THERE NOW YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!"

Harry moved to unlock the door despite his hands still been wet and soapy, and so he found it difficult to unlock the door quickly. This delay seemed to annoy his uncle even more.

"NOW! I DEMAND YOU OPEN THIS DOOR NOW."

Harry finally managed to get the door open and saw his uncle stood there, his large face purple with rage. Harry noticed that his uncle's eyes seemed to have strange silvery sheen to them but before he could think more about this, Vernon raised his fist to hit Harry, who managed to duck out of the way and tried to get back to his room. Vernon took exception to Harry avoiding his fist and turned to lash out again, this time hitting Harry on the ear. Harry's head exploded in pain as the large man's fist connected with his ear. He staggered back into Vernon, who hit him again with the other fist. This one connected with his stomach causing Harry to double up and stagger back, unfortunately very near the top of the stairs. He just about managed to regain his balance and tried to look up. He saw Vernon looking at him with an evil glint in his eye, "I'LL TEACH YOU BOY!" Vernon shouted and once more hit Harry in the face, this was too much for Harrys balance, and he fell backwards down the long flight of stairs. As Harry fell he felt his arm break, and then a loud crack from his leg as his lower leg bone snapped. He landed in a heap at the bottom on the hard wooden floor, cracking his head heavily. He felt a warm pool of blood start to flow around his head as he groggily tried to move. Vernon had followed his nephew down the stairs and now stood over the fallen teen. It seemed that he was possessed as he laughed at the young man leaking blood all over the floor. He raised one of his legs and began to viscously kick Harry in the head repeatedly. Harry quickly lost consciousness and Vernon only stopped kicking him when Aunt Petunia had come to see what the noise was about. She grabbed her husband and screamed at him.

"Vernon! What have you done? If you've killed him you know what will happen to us."

Vernon looked at his wife with uncomprehending eyes, that slowly cleared and he took in the scene at his feet.

"Oh shit," he swore quietly. "What have I done?" Vernon had not been feeling himself recently, seemingly loosing many hours and not been able to remember what he had been doing. He quickly came to a conclusion; he had to get out of there and fast. He grabbed his car keys and bundled his protesting wife into the car. Dudley was over at Piers today, so that was okay, and Vernon started the car and drove off leaving the door ajar, and a heavily bleeding Harry on the hallway floor.

Harry was found ten minutes later by the postman, who immediately phoned for an ambulance. Within five minutes a paramedic fast response bike had arrived and the paramedic quickly assessed the situation. He called the police and radioed for an air ambulance to take Harry to the nearest Head Trauma unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

Within half an hour, after the short flight, Harry was taken to the Resus unit at the Accident and Emergency department. The Doctors were surprised that he was still alive as they assessed him. They found a broken arm, leg, and three ribs. He had a collapsed lung and was struggling to breath for himself as well as internal bleeding. The team intubated Harry and put him on a ventilator to help him breath. But it was his head injury that was causing the major concern however. After they stopped the surface bleeding he was sent for an emergency MRI scan that showed internal bleeding and bruising of the brain and within another twenty minutes Harry was in emergency surgery. Seven hours later he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit for further assessment. After not responding to any of the treatments or showing any signs of improvement for two days, an emergency EEG scan of his brain was requested that showed very little activity. The Doctors wanted to declare him brain dead but before they could do that, they needed to find his next of kin. They posted a 'Do Not Resuscitate' notice above his bed left him under the nurse's care whilst they found a relative. The police had finally finished searching Harry's home and had found Harry's scrap of paper. They'd give the consultant doctor Hermione's number and the doctor phoned the number to speak to Miss Granger and to tell her what had happened:-

"Hello, am I speaking to Miss Hermione Granger please."

"Hello yes my name is Doctor Mark Evans, I'm one of the consultant neuro surgeons at the Royal Free Head Trauma unit. I understand that your daughter is friends with a young man called Harry Potter?"

"Well I'm afraid he's had a serious accident. It seems that he has been beaten badly and pushed down a flight of stairs at his house. I'm sorry to tell you that he is in a deep coma and your daughter was named as his next of Kin."

"Well it seems that Harry had written a note with your phone number of it and asking us to contact Miss Granger of anything was to happen to Harry."

Dr Evans listened to the women's response

"Well Harry is on the ICU department her and I would suggest that you come down as soon as possible."

"Thank you we will see you when you get here."

Dr Evans sadly hung up the phone and went to tell the nurses that someone was coming soon to see Harry and who could make a decision about turning off the life support machines.


	3. Chapter 2 No way are you turning that of

**Chapter two – "No Way are you turning that off!"**

_The Granger house July 7__th__ 1996 06:53_

There was a sudden burst of frantic activity as Mr and Mrs Granger got dressed. Hermione came around very quickly and immediately started to cry about Harry. Jean had convinced her to throw some cloths on and within minutes they were all in the car driving into central London. Although the Grangers lived about forty miles from London and the journey would normally take over an hour due to the traffic, it was a Sunday and Mr Granger was going slightly over the speed limit so they arrived at the hospital in good time. Mr Granger let Hermione and Jean out and left them whilst he tried to find somewhere to park. Hermione and her mother ran into the main building and quickly located the Head Trauma unit. As soon as they got the main ICU ward they had to ring a buzzer to gain access. Rather than letting them straight in, Dr Evans met them at the main door.

"Dr Granger, Miss Granger, it's good to meet you. I'm sorry it has to be under such sad circumstances. I need you to come with me so we can discuss Harry's condition with you before you can see him"

"Dr Evans, I need to see Harry now." Hermione pleaded with tears in her eyes. "Can you not talk to us whilst we are with him?"

Dr Evans looked at the distraught young woman stood in front of him. 'She must really care for the young man in his care, such a shame' he thought 'I can see she will not be willing to talk first'

He looked at Mrs Granger, "Medical doctor?" he asked her.

She shook her head and replied "Dentist, but I did study at medical school for a short while."

Dr Evans nodded at this piece of information, it would make it easy to explain Harry's condition. He turned back to Hermione.

"Okay, I must warn you Miss Granger, Harry is been kept alive with a lot of machines that may look a little frightening to you. Don't worry you may still hold his hand and we will talk whilst you are there."

He led the pair to a private room where Harry lay. He was in a large hospital bed with loads of monitors and machines next to him. One of the machines was causing a small rubber bag to inflate and deflate rhythmically as it ventilated his lungs. There were ECG's and blood pressure monitors as well as an EEG brain monitor connected to him. Harry lay very still, his face covered in bruises. One of his eyes had swelled shut and his head was covered in a large white bandage. His left hand and his right leg had been plastered up and there were large metal bolts coming out of the one on his leg. His eyes were shut and there was no sign of life that could be seen. Hermione gave a low cry and ran to the bedside, taking his hand in hers.

"Harry? Harry? It's Hermione. I'm here."

A nurse brought her a chair and one for Mrs Granger and they both sat down. Mrs Granger looked at Harry with a chill in her heart. She had spied the DNR notice above the bed an immediately knew what it signified. Her eyes started to fill up as she realised why Dr Evans wanted to speak with them first. She quickly stood and caught Dr Evans's eye. He realised what she needed and they both moved away to talk leaving Hermione holding Harry's hand all the while talking to him quietly.

"It's bad isn't it Dr Evans?"

"Yes Dr Granger I'm afraid so, and please call me Mark. I'm afraid the EEG shows no major brain activity and his pupils are fixed and dilated. We need to speak to your daughter about the possibility of organ donation."

Mrs Granger sighed deeply and put her face in her hands for a while. Dr Evans allowed the women her moment of grief.

"I'm afraid that may be a difficult conversation. She loves that young man; even if she hasn't admitted it to herself yet and …well they are both a little special. Is there no hope at all?"

"None I'm afraid, we have tried everything."

Mrs Granger wondered if the people at the magic hospital Hermione had spoken to her about would be able to help, but even then wizards were not immortal. Sure they could heal and cure a lot more that Muggle medicine but even they would struggle with this. "Let me speak to her. It may be easier. Could you ask someone to find my husband, he was parking the car."

"Sure, I'll leave you two alone; let the nurses know if you need anything." Mrs Granger thanked Dr Evans and moved back to the chair next to Hermione.

"Darling, we need to talk. I've spoken to Dr Evans and I'm afraid its bad news. You see Harry had a large head injury, and whilst they were able to keep his body alive….." Mrs Granger broke off, not sure how to continue. Hermione looked at her mother with wide eyes. Tears were falling down her face.

"Mum, what are you trying to say?" she asked in a broken voice.

"Hermione, I'm afraid that Harry's brain is damaged. In fact it's damaged too much and he will never wake up."

"Are you trying to tell me that Harry is brain d-d-dead.?" she sobbed

Mrs Granger just nodded her head and moved to hug her daughter. After a while she told Hermione that Harry had named her his next of kin. By this time Mr Granger had arrived and was stood behind Hermione with his hand on her shoulder.

"Darling, they can keep Harry's body alive for a while, but they say it would be kinder to let him go. They need your permission to turn of the machines."

Hermione looked at her mother in horror. How could this be happening? How could she make that decision? She looked back at Harry, would he give up on her. As she looked at his face something seemed to click inside her. She couldn't let this happen, she needed Harry, the whole world needed Harry.

"No way are you turning that off.", she snarled. She instinctively knew what she needed to do and stood and put both of her hands on his chest. She shut her eyes and focused on Harry. As she stood a magical wind grew up around her and the monitors started to go wild. The door crashed open as Dr Evans and two nurses came rushing in.

"Miss Granger, you need to stop whatever it is you are doing!" Dr Evans yelled and moved towards the young witch to pull her away from Harry. Hermione turned and looked at the Doctor and the two nurses, her eyes glowing silver. "LEAVE US ALONE!" She snarled in a vicious voice and the three found themselves pushed back out of the room by an invisible force and the door slamming behind them. They started banging on the door, whilst Mr and Mrs Granger looked on in awe at their daughter. One of the nurses ran to find security whilst Dr Evans and the other nurse looked on through the window in the door. Hermione had now turned her attention back to Harry and closed her eyes once more. She felt her conscious mind leave her body and flow into the dark

_Harry mind_

Hermione found herself in a dark empty space, she could see nothing as far as she could see, but instinctively she knew which way she needed to travel. She walked for what seemed like miles, all the while the scenery never changing until eventually in the distance she could see a small figure. She ran towards the figure and was surprised to see a young boy curled up into a small ball. As she got closer she could see that it was Harry, but the Harry she had first met five years ago on the Hogwarts Express. She bent down to the figure and gently said "Harry, its Hermione" she got no answer from the boy so she tried again. This time the figure raised his head and looked at her.

"Who are you? Where am I? I'm so tired, can I sleep now?"

"Harry, its Hermione, your friend. I need you to stay with me please. You cannot die! I need you so much." Hermione cried, so worried now that Harry was beyond her help. She could feel her control weakening.

_The Royal Free Hospital, ICU room 3_

Dr Evans was suddenly able to open the door and he and the nurse ran back into the room. Dr Evans moved to Hermione to move her but found that he could not touch her as there seemed to be an invisible wall surrounding her.

"What the hell? Who are you people?"

Mrs Granger looked at the Doctor, "I'm her mother and she is most powerful witch of her age." she declared proudly. "I would let her work if I was you."

Dr Evans would normally have called the mental ward but having witnessed what he had seen, he had to believe her. He looked at the monitors and turned with a worried look.

"Well whatever she's doing she better hurry up. Blood pressure dropping, ECG is showing a marked bradycardia; oxygen sats are down to 83%. He's dying."

_Harrys mind._

Hermione had managed to keep Harry awake; he now looked like he did in their third year at school. "Hermione, I'm so tired. Let me go to sleep please, let me go."

Hermione pulled Harry to his feet, and looked deep into his eyes. "Harry James Potter, you are not going to leave me alone. You are going to wake up and get better!" she shouted.

"Why do you care so much Hermione?"

"Because you stupid fool, I love you. I have for the last five years and I cannot live without you." And with that she slammed her lips onto his.

_The Royal Free Hospital, ICU room 3._

Dr Evans looked in amazement at the monitors. "BP's back up, Heart rate back at 68 beats per min. Oxygen sats 99%. My God, what is she doing?"

The nurse helping him looked at the EEG monitor. "Doctor, massive amounts of brain activity, it's almost off the scale. "

Harry suddenly started to gag under Hermione's touch. "He's trying to breathe on his own; let's get that tube out of him."

Dr Evans moved to the other side of the bed and gently excubated the breathing tube. Harry took a deep breath on his own. Dr Evans looked at Harrys face and could see beneath his closed eyelids Harry eyes moving around. He peeled back one of the lids and was shocked to see his eyes glowing the same silver colour as Hermione's. By now the room was full of people all watching in amazement.

_Harrys mind._

Harry, who now resembled his normal self but was covered in bruises and bandages, was still embraced in Hermione's hold. He had never known a kiss like it and he was saddened when she broke the contact. Hermione looked deep into his eyes and repeated herself.

"I love you Harry, I didn't realise it until now but I love you so much."

"Hermione, you cannot love me. Please don't feel that. Everyone I love, I loose. He takes them away from me, It's too dangerous."

"Harry James Potter, you listen to me and you will listen good. I love you; I have loved you since I first meet you on the train all those years ago. I have stood by you through thick and thin and I am not going to let you go now. I love you with all my heart and soul, and I will never ever leave you. I pledge this to you for all eternity."

As she said these words Harry felt a strange feeling in his heart, it was a warm loving feeling that made him tingle all over. He looked deep into his best friend's eyes and saw only love there. He felt compelled to return her vow.

"Hermione, as much as I believe you to be putting yourself in danger, I Love you too with all my heart and soul, and I vow never to leave you for all eternity."

At these words they both felt a warm feeling envelop them, and they both heard a strange voice say one word,

"_DONE!"_

As they looked at each other in wonder, two gold rings appeared, one on each of their left hand, they glowed briefly and then flared into a golden light. The two of them suddenly kissed each other hard and passionately on the lips.

_The Royal Free Hospital, ICU room 3._

The onlookers gasped as suddenly a golden light left Hermione's chest, near her heart and moved towards Harry's chest. Jean, who was closest to them shrieked as gold rings suddenly appeared on their respective wedding fingers. She grasped her husband's arm and pointed them out to him.

"Roger, look!"

"What the hell does that mean?"

As everyone looked on, the bruises on Harrys face slowly faded, the metal pins in his leg suddenly popped out with an alarming crack. His eye swelling vanished, and unseen by all the hair on his head re-grew under the bandages.

_Harrys Mind_

Harry and Hermione were still kissing; Harry had his arms around her with one hand resting on her bum. She had both hands in his hair and was running them gently through it. As they kissed, Harry gently put his tongue into her mouth, unsure on how it would be received, but she eagerly allowed him entry and quickly returned the favour. She was making small moaning noises into his mouth and her hand left his hair to clasp his bum as well. Hermione could feel the effect this was having on him through the thin dress she was wearing and it made her feel good that he responded to her so strongly. She eventually realised that this was not the real world and that it was time to return with him, so she reluctantly broke the kiss. As she looked at him she could now see he looked fit and well, with all signs of the injuries gone. He still had his eyes closed and was breathing rather quickly. Slowly he opened his eyes to gaze at her.

"Wow!, you are amazing 'Mione. I love you so much." He said with tears in his eyes.

She smiled back at him, "You're not so bad yourself Mr Potter."

"Shall we get out of her love?"

"How Harry, I'm not even sure how I got in."

Harry just smiled and took her hand. Looking up he could see a bright light in the distance, without even thinking how to do it they suddenly found themselves flying upwards towards the light.

_The Royal Free Hospital, ICU room 3._

As the group looked at the couple, Hermione suddenly jerked her hands back, the magical wind surrounding her and the golden light between them faded; her eyes returning to normal. She looked up at the room in confusion and collapsed back to her chair, one hand still holding Harrys, exhausted. Dr Evans moved to Harry and was astonished to see Harry open his eyes and smile back at him.

"Hello, who are you and where am I?" Harry asked in a quiet voice.

Dr Evans suddenly felt tears in his eyes. He had witnessed a miracle. This boy was to all intents and purposes dead and now he's suddenly asking where he was. Before he had chance to answer there was a loud pop and suddenly the room was full of strangely dressed people all pointing sticks at them. The most striking one was a tall man with purple robes and long white hair and beard. He smiled at the people in the room and waved his stick at the Doctors and Nurses quietly saying some words that sounded vaguely like Latin. All the doctor and nurses suddenly straightened and looked around in confusion. Suddenly realising they were in the wrong place they all left to go about their business. Dr Evans looked very confused for a second, but then remembered what had happened.

"Who are you people and what are you doing here?"

The tall stranger looked at him oddly and once more waved his stick at him. Dr Evans once more felt confused but very quickly the feeling passed.

"I asked you, what you are doing here? Please answer me before I call security"

The strange looking man smiled at him with a warm smile, his eyes seemed to sparkle in a humorous manner.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore. I am a friend and teacher to the two young people over there", he said indicating Harry and Hermione." I am also a wizard and you my friend are going to present me with a little problem. You seem to be immune to my memory modification charm, and that doesn't happen very often."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about old man? I'm going to get security and the police up here and then we wil..."

He never got to complete the sentence as Dumbledore with a small smile Stupefied him, and gently caught him before he hit the floor. "Don't worry, I will explain it all in a while Doctor." He whispered and laid the man on the floor. He then turned to Harry and Hermione, who by this time had moved to sit on Harry bed and had her hand still tightly ensorcelled in Harry's. Harry looked up and saw Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, Lupin and Tonks stood in the room with him, along with what he assumed were Mr and Mrs Granger. He looked over at Hermione sat with him, clasping his hand in hers as if she would never let it go, and he smiled a shy smile at her. He tried to move to make himself more comfortable when a sharp pain shot through his leg. He looked down and was surprised to see a long white plaster cast with bits of metal scaffolding resting on the bed besides it. He looked around and saw that he was in a hospital room surrounded by expensive looking medical equipment. He looked puzzled for a moment, trying to remember the events that brought him here, when suddenly he gasped.

"Uncle Vernon!, he attacked me and pushed me down the stairs, and then started to kick me."

"Harry my dear boy, we know what happened. Your Uncle was under the Imperius charm and had been for days. We found both him and your Aunt miles away from you home and we extracted the memories of them both. You may find this difficult to believe but your Uncle had been fighting the instruction to harm you for a while, but eventually it came too strong. He however does not appear to be that regretful of the incident sadly. I'm afraid it took us a long time to find you, but it seems that Hermione found you first."

As he was speaking, Madam Pomfrey was fussing over Harry, trying to assess his injuries. She waved her wand causing the bandages on his head to vanish and she kept casting diagnostic spells. After a while she looked up and Dumbledore in surprise.

"Albus, apart from a small problem with the bones in his leg, where the Muggle surgery has caused a slight weakness, this boy is in perfect health. I will leave the plasters casts on for the moment, until I can get him back to Hogwarts for a betters assessment, however according to the medical notes I examined, he should be brain dead. I cannot explain it."

Jean Granger looked up at the young couple and then at Professor Dumbledore with tears still in her eyes. "Hermione healed him, I don't know how, but she did it. I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life. How did she do that Professor?"

Professor Dumbledore smiled and looked at Jean with a twinkle in his eye. "Mrs Granger, before I answer that, I must warn you, that you may be a bit shocked by the explanation."

Jean reached behind her and took her husband's arm and looked back at Dumbledore.

"She healed him because she simply could not live without him. They both have managed to achieve something very few couples have ever achieved, a Soul Bond."

Everyone looked at Dumbledore in surprise and shock. He merely smiled and looked at Hermione.

"Hermione, how do you feel about Harry?"

Hermione looked at Harry and then at her parents. She then held her head up high and proudly said "I love him with all my heart"

"And Harry?"

Without hesitation, Harry replied "And I love her with all my heart."

"Would you both hold up your left hands please"

Shyly the two teenagers held up there left hands to show the gold rings still glowing slightly on their wedding fingers.

"May I present to you Mr and Mrs Potter, Soul mates bonded for life." Professor Dumbledore announced dramatically.


	4. Chapter 3 Explanations and Healing

**A/N. Just a couple of things. I know the whole Soul Bond thing is a bit of a cliche, but for this story to work it is absolutly necerssary. You will see that in later chapters, plus I'm an old romatic and I like it:-) The other thing is I know some people hate the use of 'Mione for Hermione, but I was working on the assumption that couples shorten there partners names, I do with my wifes name and lots of other couples I know do as well. Put it could be worst, I could of used 'Hermy'...shudder...**

**Please review!**

**Chapter Three – Explanations and Healing.**

"_May I present to you Mr and Mrs Potter, Soul mates bonded for life." Professor Dumbledore announced dramatically._

At this announcement everyone started to talk loudly to each other, all trying to ask Professor Dumbledore questions at the same time. Professor Dumbledore stood smiling at everyone, but answering nothing.

As people were talking, Harry looked at Hermione.

"Mrs Potter? Are we married?"

"Feels like it Harry. I'm not sure how it happened. Are you upset about that?"

"Absolutely not, it feels right, I love you. What does Soul Bonded mean though?"

"Not a clue. I think it's time we got answers though."

"Your parents are going to be so pissed with me aren't they?"

"Harry, shush. They will be a bit shocked, but it will be fine, they will love you."

Harry looked over at Professor Dumbledore and spoke loudly.

"Sir, what does this mean?"

"Excellent question my boy, and if everyone will quieten down I will try to explain." He replied raising his voice to get everyone's attention.

"Mr and Mrs Granger, Mr and Mrs Potter, it would seem that when Hermione was healing Harry from his injuries, they also became Soul Bonded. That is to say they now share souls; a piece of Harry's soul now resides in Hermione and a piece of Harrys in her. When this happened it also triggered the magical marriage of the two of them and hence the rings. Did anyone see any sort of light between the two of them?"

Jean nodded, "There was a golden light between each of their hearts just before the rings appeared." She said softly

Dumbledore nodded at this news and looked at the two parents with understanding eyes. "Yes that was the light of their two souls mixing. It was golden in colour because these two are children of the light."

"But Professor Dumbledore how was I able to heal Harry. I've never studied healing on that level before?"

"Love, Hermione, love. You instinctively knew what to do to save Harry, and you did it. It was an amazing piece of magic. That is what drew us here; we could feel the power of it for miles."

"But how can Hermione be married, she's only sixteen and as far as I know Harry is only fifteen?" Mr Granger asked with an odd growl to his voice. Harry flinched at the tone, but Hermione squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"I know this is a shock, but I'm sure you both knew your daughters feelings for Harry. Under Wizard law, a couple can be married as young as fourteen although that is very rare these days. However the magic has spoken so to say and married they are. They are also considered to be adults now because of this. We all knew they would get together but not quite as soon as this, and not quite as permanent as this. It does present us with a few problems though."

Hermione looked up at this, "Problems sir?"

Dumbledore looked at Hermione with a smile on his lips. "Nothing to worry too much about Hermione, but to demonstrate, could you please come over here."

Hermione looked at her headmaster and back at Harry, who just shrugged at her. She slowly let go of his hand and moved off the bed to walk to Professor Dumbledore. She had not gone three paces when she encountered a terrible pain in her head. Her heart started to beat fast and erratically and she moaned in pain. Harry had also felt the same pain and had instinctively reached out his arm to Hermione. She turned around and moved back to him. As soon as their hands touched the pain vanished and they felt fine. They smiled at each other and Hermione leant down to kiss him. Her father made an uncomfortable sound and she broke away blushing deeply.

"What happened sir?" Harry asked

"Because you now share souls, when you moved away you felt unwell as it strained the bond. If you had continued to move away you would off both passed out and eventually you would of both died."

"Does that mean they have to stay together like this for ever?" Roger asked incredulously.

"Mr Granger, let me assure you that the bond will settle down over time, and they will be able to function apart for as long as **they** want. However to keep them apart for long periods of time against their will would do them both permanent harm. I would suggest that we transfer both of them and yourselves to the infirmary wing at Hogwarts under Madam Pomfrey's care for the time been. We will be able to set up guest quarters at the school for you both as the school is empty at the moment. We will send someone to your house to make sure everything is secure, and to bring Crookshanks along."

Jean and Roger looked at each other and then back at the now cuddling couple of the bed. They seemed to be oblivious to their surroundings, happy to gaze into each other's eyes. Jean looked back at the headmaster and nodded her approval.

"Excellent. Minerva could you and Miss Tonks escort our guests back to the school with Madam Pomfrey. I have temporally taken the anti-apparition wards down in the infirmary. I will re-establish them as soon as I get back. Remus, could you help me with the young Doctor here. We will meet back at the school as soon as we have sorted this out."

Madam Pomfrey looked at Harry and sighed. "I will go ahead and get Mr Potter's usual bed ready for him".

Harry laughed quietly at this and smiled at the nurse. He was very surprised when she winked back at him before she turned and apperated away.

Professor McGonagall took hold of Mr and Mrs Granger, whilst Tonks held on to Harry; she looked at Hermione with a questioning look.

"I think I know how to do it Tonks."

"You think? This is not an area for guessing. Let me take Harry and I'll come back for you.", she replied as she disappeared with Harry.

Professor Dumbledore upon hearing this shouted "No!", but he was too late.

As soon as she vanished Hermione gave a low cry and immediately collapsed and started to convulse. Mrs Granger screamed as she looked at her daughter in such obvious trouble and started to run to her, however she was beaten to it by Professor McGonagall who ran over to the struggling teen and glared at Dumbledore.

"Idiot women, was she not listening. I'll take Hermione right away and come back for you both Mr and Mrs Granger. Don't worry, as soon as I get her to Harry she will be fine.", and with that she took hold of the convulsing Hermione and apperated away.

Professor Dumbledore sighed and ran his hands over his face. Briefly for a few moments he looked a very old man, but quickly his usual twinkle returned to his eyes and he looked over at Remus.

"Can you take Roger and Jean please? I'm guessing that Minerva is a little busy and I can deal with the young Doctor over here."

Remus nodded and walked over to the nervous parents. "Have either of you apperated before?"

They both shook their heads. Remus grinned at both of them. "Well you're in for a treat them. Hold on my arms and we'll have you with your daughter and son-in-law within seconds."

The two increasingly worried parents took hold of Remus's arms and with a gasp they found themselves feeling like they were been sucked into a tube.

Professor Dumbledore smiled briefly and then turned to Dr Evans. "Right Dr Evans, let's see why you can resist my memory charm and what are we going to do with you, shall we?" He pointed his wand at the Doctor and whispered "Ennevate!"

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

Professor McGonagall apperated to the Hospital wing with the still convulsing Hermione in her arms, only to be greeted by a scene of total chaos. Madam Pomfrey was trying to get Harry to lie still on one of the beds, but he was convulsing in the same manner as Hermione. This wasn't helped by the plaster casts still on his leg and arm. Tonks was stood in the corner of the room crying her eyes out and looking very afraid of what would happen. As soon as Madam Pomfrey saw Hermione arrive with Professor McGonagall she called her over.

"Minerva, for the love of Merlin, get Hermione over here now! Thanks to Ms Tonks over there we could be faced with a full psychic breakdown of these two."

At this Tonks started to cry harder, but ran to help Professor McGonagall manhandle Hermione to Harry's cot. As soon as they got her to him, the pair of them stopped convulsing and immediately wrapped their arms around each other, as if drawing strength from each other. What made this all the more surprising was they were still both unconscious. They both smiled at each other in their sleep and despite Madam Pomfrey's best efforts they could not be separated. The nurse sighed and eventually started to treat Harry with Hermione still wrapped in his arms. Within seconds she had the plaster casts removed and had started on some advanced diagnostic spells.

With a loud pop, Remus arrived with Mr and Mrs Granger. The pair looked terrified after the journey and Roger had to catch Jean before she fell. Both looked decidedly green but slowly started to recover. Professor McGonagall walked over to the worried parents.

"Don't worry, as soon as we got them together, they both settled down. They are both asleep at the moment, but will probably wake up in a short while."

"Why did Hermione collapse like that?" Roger asked her.

"Well I'm no expert on these things, but as Professor Dumbledore told you, the two of them somehow managed to perform a Soul bonding ritual. That means that they both share souls and are now married. As the bond is very new, they have to stay close to each other until the bond settles down. Now when young Ms Tonks over there brought Harry here and left Hermione in London they both went into psychic shock. Luckily we managed to get them back together in time so no long term harm done."

The two parents walked over to their daughter and their new son-in-law. They were still fast asleep on the cot, arms wrapped around each other. They had begun to glow a deep golden colour which gently infused the room. Madam Pomfrey had now finished her work on Harry, as was stood talking to Professor McGonagall. Roger turned to Jean

"They look so peaceful; but they are so young to be married, and why are they glowing like that?"

Jean sighed and absently brushed a lock of hair from Hermione's face. "I don't know, but we both know she loves him. Dammit, she's loved him for years, and from what she tells me he's had a pretty crappy life. We owe it to her...to them to support this. But when all this is settled and they are older, I want a proper wedding for them."

Roger smiled at his wife's comment, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him. "It will be the best wedding the world has ever seen love."

As they looked at the young couple, they saw that they were beginning to wake. As they woke the glow disappeared. Slowly Harry woke first, looking around in confusion, obviously unsure on where he was. A few seconds later, Hermione began to stir. Her head came up and she opened her eyes to look at her parents. Jean Granger screamed in surprise. "Your eyes Hermione, what's happened to your eyes?" Hermione blinked in surprise and looked at Harry. Harry was as surprised as her mother.

"Wow 'Mione! Your eyes, they've turned green. They look exactly like mine!"

Sure enough, Hermione's previously chocolate brown eyes were now emerald green. As soon as she heard this Madam Pomfrey rushed back over to the couple and started to silently examine Hermione. However Hermione was not keen on this idea and brushed away the nurse's wand.

"Could someone please tell me what's going on. My eyes are brown, not green. And why am I in bed with Harry...not that I mind the last bit?"

Everyone chuckled at the comment, but Harry looked at her parents in slight alarm as the realization that he was in bed with their only daughter caught up with his confused brain. He was slightly relieved to see them both smile at him, albeit at little sadly.

"Well Mrs Potter, when Ms. Tonks brought Mr Potter up here to Scotland, leaving you back in London, it put too much of a strain on your new bond and you both collapsed. Professor McGonagall brought you to Harry and we needed to get you close so that you would both quickly recover." The healer replied.

At this last statement, Tonks came rushing over with tears still in her eyes. "I'm so sorry you two. I just didn't think. I hope I didn't hurt you too much?"

Both Harry and Hermione smiled at the distraught young Auror. "It's okay Tonks. No harm done...we think." They replied in unison.

Madam Pomfrey nodded and continued. "Now let me show you your eyes."

Madam Pomfrey silently conjured a small mirror for Hermione who brought it up to her face, where she gasped in astonishment. "My eyes are green? Hey my eyes are like yours Harry!" she shouted in a pleased fashion. Harry chucked at her happiness, but then slowly his smile faded.

"Madam Pomfrey, why have 'Mione's eyes changed colour? Will anything else change? I kinda like her the way she is."

Madam Pomfrey also chuckled. "No Harry I don't think anything else will change. As to why her eyes have changed, well you know what they say, 'The eyes are the window to the soul'. I'm guessing that this is a reflection of your soul bond. Professor Dumbledore will hopefully be able to answer your questions, he knows more about this that I do. And now Mr Potter, let's have a look at you now that your awake. How do you feel?"

"My leg hurts but other than that I feel fine. In fact I feel fantastic"

"That will be the bond Mr Potter. When the Headmaster gets back..."

With a small pop, Professor Dumbledore arrived with his usual twinkle in his eye. As soon as he arrived he raised his wand and made an incantation to re-establish the wards over the school. That soon done he turned his attention back to the small party in the room.

"Ah here you all are. Poppy how are the patients?"

"Well Albus, Hermione and Harry are mentally fine but we have discovered something unusual. It seems Mrs Potter's eyes have changed colour. They are now green,' Harry Potter' green in fact."

The headmaster walked over and peered into Hermione's eyes, making her blush at the attention. After a little while he smiled and commented "And very pretty they are Mrs Potter. The eyes are the window to the soul, and now that you have soul bonded it seems that you've copied some of Harry's characteristics. Don't worry I'm sure nothing else will change. It seems that Harry's hair colour has slightly lightened to a more dark brown as well. Now, how's Harry other injuries Poppy?"

"Well, I can detect no sign of the head injury. It seems that Hermione has completely cured it. As to the rest of his extensive injuries, they have mostly been cured. The only problem is his leg. It seems that the muggle surgery got in the way of the magic. His leg is strong again, but there is a deformity on the bone that I cannot cure just yet. It will have to wait until the leg is much better. For the time been he will have to walk with a cane. I have given him something for the pain and can arrange a course of pain killer potions that he can use."

Harry looked a little alarmed at this but Hermione took hold of his hand and told him that it would be fine and that it was only temporary. They would get him a beautiful cane as soon as they could.

"Can they be discharged?"

"Yes, Albus. Although I would rather they stay at Hogwarts for a few days so I can keep an eye on them."

The Headmaster looked at the young couple and then at Hermione's parents. "I'm sure we can find some guest quarters for you Mr and Mrs Granger. Harry and Hermione can stay in the Griffindor quarters. I know this is a bit sudden for you all but it will be best if you use the Head boy and girl quarters as you can share a room." He raised his hand as Mr Granger started to protest, "They are married and the bond will mean that even if we put them in separate rooms they will find a way to be together. They cannot help it. In the meanwhile, I suggest that you both go with Minerva and get something to eat. I need to have a word with Mr and Mrs Potter, We have quite a lot to discuss." He waved his wand a conjured a walking stick for Harry, who gingerly got down from the cot and slowly walked to the door, followed by a concerned Hermione. He was wincing a little but once he got used to using the cane, the pain reduced to a dull ache. Once they got to the corridor outside of the hospital wing, Hermione took Harry's hand and they slowly followed the headmaster to his office. They got to the stairs leading to his office and he said the password "Cola Bottles" and allowed them access. Once seated on the comfy seats in front of his desk, Professor Dumbledore sat and smiled his largest smile at the young couple. He looked at them for a few moments before speaking

"Well you two. What an interesting day you have had. We have a few things to discuss but let's start with the nice things. Congratulations on your wedding, I must admit, it's been a long number of years since I have seen a soul bond as strong as yours, but I never seen one in a pair as young as you two. You must really love each other."

They both blushed as shyly nodded. "I love Harry with all my heart. I guess I always have, but was too afraid to admit it to him...or myself."

"Well you will both find that as your bond strengthens you will discover that it will help you both in many ways. The few that have had soul bonds have described telepathy, shared emotions and a massive strengthening in their magic. Who knows where your bond will stop, but I already know it will have one massive benefit."

With that he stood and before either Harry or Hermione could react he pointed it at Harry and shouted "AVEDA KEDAVERA!" the tell tale green light shot out of his wand and as Hermione screamed it enveloped Harry. Instead of causing Harry to drop dead, the green light seemed to flicker a little and then die, leaving Harry sat in his chair blinking in surprise and anger.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ABOUT!" he shouted, drawing his wand and pointing it at the headmaster who merely smiled back. Hermione had by now also drawn her wand and was also seething with anger.

"You'd better have a damm good explanation for that, Sir"

The Headmaster then did something that surprised them both, he reversed his wand and handed it to Harry and raised his arms in surrender, smiling all the while. Harry took the wand and passed it to Hermione, all the while never taking his eyes off Dumbledore.

"Ok, explain!"

"What do you know about the killing curse?"

Hermione immediately answered, after all some things never changed. "It has no known defence, and as far as people understand it, it breaks the connection the soul has with the body...oh!"

The headmaster's eyes twinkled as Hermione made the connection. "Go on Mrs Potter."

"Off course, because Harry and I share souls, then because you only hit Harry and not both of us I protected his soul. Harry what did you feel?"

"Well it sorta tickled a bit and I could feel something trying to tug at me deep down but then it faded. Does this mean that we are both immune to the killing curse?" he asked the headmaster.

"As long as you're both not hit then yes. You must be aware that if both of you are hit then you will both die, so be careful. I'm sorry for the extreme demonstration but I guess you know how useful this could be to both of you."

Harry nodded and asked Hermione to hand Dumbledore's wand back to him. He nodded and pocketed the wand. "I must warn you both that you will find your magic much stronger than it was before and you will both need training in how to control it. I will arrange for you both some extra lessons before school starts. That reminds me, when you start school in September, I will arrange for you both to share married quarters. We have not had to use them for a while, but they will be quite luxurious for you both." He paused for a while and retrieved two letters from one of his large pockets.

"Before I arrived back at Hogwarts, I received two letters for you both. One is from the Ministry and the other is from Gringotts." He handed the pair the two letters. Harry opened the first addressed to Mr and Mrs Potter.

_Dear Mr and Mrs Potter._

_Congratulations on your recent wedding and Soul Bonding. This has been registered in the official marriage records and as such you are both now classified as adults._

_The underage magic restriction no longer applies to you both and you are free to practice magic at you leisure._

_Once again, congratulations on your wedding and may we take the opportunity to wish you both a happy and long marriage._

_Yours_

_The Minister of Magic_

The second letter was more intriguing. It was addressed to Lord and Lady Potter. Hermione looked surprised at the form of address but opened the letter nevertheless.

_Dear Lord and Lady Potter._

_We have been notified of you recent marriage and emancipation and as such you are both entitled to the full contents of your inheritance. In addition to this we need to discuss the will of Lord Potter's Godfather – Lord Sirius Black. We would be grateful if you could both present yourselves to Gringotts as your earliest convenience to discuss._

_Yours_

_Griphook (Potter family banker)_

After she had read it she showed it to Harry who read it slowly. Tears sprung to his eyes when he read about Sirius, but Hermione quickly took his hand and kissed away the tears. Green eyes met green and she looked deep into them. Pushing all her love for Harry into the look, she could feel him relax.

"It will be okay love. I will be with you."

"I know 'Mione. I know you will be and I glad about that. I don't think I could do it alone."

"You will never be alone again." And she kissed him, as she kissed him there rings once more began to glow a deep golden colour, but this time it expanded to envelop them entirely. The strange objects on the headmaster's desk began to whirr and rotate madly and the room began to rattle. The couple were so lost in the embrace that they would have forgotten where they were and things could have got more embarrassing for them but after a short while Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat very loudly and theatrically. They broke apart blushing furiously that they lost control like that.

"Don't worry you two. Believe it or not I was young and in love once...and I miss him so." He announced with a wry grin. His face suddenly became more serious and he took a deep breath before continuing.

"Harry, we need to speak about your uncle. He has been found and been arrested by the muggle police on charges of abuse and attempted murder. We have spoken to both him and Petunia and we have ascertained that your uncle was under the Imperious curse when he attacked you. The curse broke when he realised what he had done, but he still left you on the floor of the house without calling for help. We can modify the memories of the police and free him if you want ...or we can let the police do their job. "

Harry sat stock still at the conversation. What should he do? He could get his revenge on his uncle or should he forgive him as he was under the Imperious curse. '_But he wasn't when he left you for dead'_, a little voice in his head mentioned.

Dumbledore watched the internal struggle going on in Harry and decided to help him a little. "When I spoke to Petunia, she asked...no begged me to ask you to see her before you make a decision. She was very insistent that see you; and for once I believe her motives are in your best interests."

Harry wasn't sure that he wanted to see his aunt again, but Hermione took his hand and looked into his eyes

"I will come with you if you want."

"You will? That would be nice. Okay Professor, we'll speak to her tomorrow and then decide what to do about my uncle. Can we go grab some food now, I haven't eaten anything in nearly three days and I'm famished."

"Off course, I'm sure you know the way to the kitchens. In fact I may join you."

"Professor? Before we go can I ask you a question?" Hermione asked.

"Off course Mrs Potter, what do you wish to know?"

"The Doctor in the hospital, why couldn't you remove his memories of the things that I did?"

Professor Dumbledore smiled at the question. The young witch in front of him really was the brightest witch of the age. "Hermione what do you know about magic? Where does it come from?"

"Well sir, from what I have read, magic is present all around us but people who can use magic have certain genes active in their DNA. Muggles are the same as us but the magic gene is missing."

"Correct, what about Squibs?"

"Well I'm not sure but if I had to guess I would say that Squibs have the gene present but that it was dormant. What does this have to do with the Doctor though sir?"

"Well Hermione, it has everything to do with it. You see Dr Evans was a squib, but when he witnessed the amazing piece of magic you performed today it created what's called an 'Indelible Memory'. That is a memory so strong that no memory charm can erase it. It is incredibly rare for it to happen. When it happens to Squibs sometimes it can have an extra effect. You see, Dr Evans seeing the magic you performed has altered his DNA and the dormant genes have now become active. He is now a wizard and I have taken him to the ministry for registering. He will have to be trained but I've asked for someone at St Mungos to take him on. He is a very knowledgeable surgeon and Doctor and we hope that when he mixes his muggle training with magical he will be able to do some great things. Now unless there are any more questions, I believe some lunch would be a good idea."

The three of them, Harry a little faster with his cane now, made their way to the kitchens for a well deserved meal. The rest of the day was spent in pleasant conversation about nothing important.

Later that evening, the young couple said goodnight to her parents and made their way to the Griffindor dormitory. It was odd to see the rooms so empty, but as soon as they entered the common room a fire lit in the room casting a warm glow around the room. They sat on one of the sofas and cuddled up to each other.

"So, Mrs Potter?"

"Yes Mr Potter?"

"Er. How do we want to do this? I know we are legally married and all but we've never even been on a date. I love you so much but I don't want to rush you." Harry said all this is a bit of rush and Hermione smiled and took his hand in hers.

"Love, let's let things happen in their own time. For now let's just go to bed and get some sleep." She took his hand and led him to the Head dormitory. As they got there Harry began to feel very nervous. "I can sleep in the boy's room if you want me to." As he said this he could feel himself getting nauseous at the thought of not been with her, but he did not want to force her to do anything she didn't want to do.

"No you bloody well wont, I know were new to this and I agree with you that we should take it slow, but you are my husband and I will sleep in the same bed as you. Now go and get washed and ready for bed. I'll get changed in here and then go and get washed after you."

Harry was a little startled by the tone that Hermione had used, but soon he was climbing into his bed and cuddling up to Hermione. They had both felt some discomfort when they separated but since fit was there choice and they were only a few feet apart then they coped.

"I love you you know. You don't mind if we wait do you. I really would like to get you know you as my girlfriend first." Harry asked.

"And I love you too, and yes I'm glad that you don't want to rush. I don't want to muck this up by getting it wrong. Now kiss me a bit, I'm still in love with you, you know and I am human too."

After a delightful kissing session they eventually fell asleep in each other's arms. Once more as they slept, the deep golden glow surrounded the pair.


	5. Chapter 4  The first day of the rest of

**A/N I am overwhelmed by the amount of people reading my storys. I thank you all. Please review.**

**Chapter Four – The first day of the rest of their lives.**

Harry woke feeling the happiest he had felt for a long while. He'd slept better then he could remember and it was all down to Hermione. He could feel her love for him through the Soul Bond and it made him feel happy that someone really loved him. They had kissed and caressed each other last night for what seemed like hours, both learning about each other's bodies without going too far...just yet. It had driven Harry wild and he was slightly embarrassed that his feelings for her were so physically evident, but she had quickly managed to force him past his embarrassment by telling him that she was pleased that she had managed to elicit such feelings in him. In order to help him, she had removed her top and allowed him to gently explore her breasts. She had decided that she really liked him doing that and it had made her very affectionate. They had both been tempted to move past their self imposed rule but they managed to resist, and had eventually fell into a comfortable sleep.

As Harry awoke, he slowly opened his eyes to see a matching pair of green eyes watching him. The eyes bored deep into his soul and he could see and feel the depth of love there.

"Morning husband" Hermione whispered quietly. "Sleep well?"

Harry grinned back at her and nodded. He could feel the warmth from their bodies as they lay entwined in the bed. He was acutely aware that other than their pants and boxers they were naked and it was giving him the usual male morning problem but after last night he was no longer embarrassed about it.

"Morning wife, yes I slept better than I have ever done, and it's all down to you."

Hermione lent across and kissed him briefly but quickly got up and waltzed towards the bathroom.

"I need to brush my teeth and we had better get dressed, it's after ten in the morning and we have a bit to do."

Harry barely heard her as he was watching her lean body move and his eyes were captivated by her breasts. Giggling slightly she moved back to him and took his face in her hands.

"Oi, I'm up here you know"

Harry blushed, not happy that he had been so easily caught out. "Well you shouldn't dance around the room with them hanging out then."

Hermione smiled again with a naughty look. "Want me to stop then?" and she twirled around once more for effect.

"HELL no!" Harry exclaimed as he lunged for her. She quickly moved away and he fell on the bed. Laughing she finally made it to the bathroom to shower and dress. When she came out she was wearing a pair of nice fitting jeans and a blouse. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was positively glowing.

"Your turn Harry...oh what's wrong?" as she spotted him looking a little upset.

"I have no clothes to wear. The clothes I was wearing when I went to hospital were covered in blood and thrown away. Yesterday I was in my hospital gown and my shoes all day and I only have my boxers and they are not clean."

Hermione thought about it for a while. "We need to go shopping today to get you some new ones. Ones that fit and aren't hand-me-downs from your cousin. But for now...Dobby!"

With a pop the house elf appeared in front of them.

"Yes Mistress Potter, Dobby is here. How can I help?"

"Dobby, how are you? Are you enjoying your time here?"

"Oh Yes Mistress, Dobby is very happy here."

"Good, can you do us a favour? Harry needs some clothes for the day as he has none with him. Can you find him a pair of jeans and a jumper? I'll sort the rest out please."

Dobby looked happy to be asked to help "Oh yes Miss. I will be sorting this now." And with a pop he vanished.

"Now you give me those boxers and I'll clean them whilst you shower."

Harry went beet red at this, and looked at Hermione in horror. She giggled a bit and then "Ok just chuck 'em out the bathroom if you are so shy."

Harry went to the bathroom and removed his boxers and threw them over to Hermione. He showered and wrapped a towel around his waist. When he returned to the room Dobby had left a pair of jeans and a bright orange jumper. Hermione handed him the now clean pair of boxers and without thinking Harry dropped the towel to put them on, eliciting a gasp from Hermione who turned red at the sight of him naked in front of her. Harry quickly put on the boxers and grinned a little at her in an embarrassed way

"Sorry, I forgot."

"Don't be sorry Harry" Hermione breathed as he finished dressing, "Your gorgeous!" she said in a dreamy voice. "Have I told you how much I love you today yet?"

"No why don't you come over here and tell me then."

She ran across to him and kissed him soundly on the lips. They stood embraced in each other's arms for a long while before the lure of food became too strong.

It was a happy couple that finally made it to the great hall on the prowl for breakfast, Harry now much faster with his cane than before. They were arm in arm, the light glinting of their wedding bands. They had finally found Harry's shoes and Dobby had found a pair of shocks (mismatching of course!). Hermione had altered the colour of the jumper to a nice dark blue. As they entered the hall they found a small group sat at the teachers table.

"Well good morning you two. Finally decided to join us have you?" Roger asked. Even though his tone was humorous, Harry could detect an edge to it.

"Oh Daddy, I'm still your little girl." Hermione called and ran up to him leaving Harry at the door. As she got half way across the room both felt the tug of pain as the Bond pulled at them. She passed a hand across her head and turned back to Harry. Just before the pain got too painful, Harry blinked out of existence and re-appeared in her arms. Instantly the pain vanished, but was replaced by uproar from the teachers sat at the table.

"Albus! Did Mr Potter just apparate in Hogwarts? That's impossible!" Professor McGonagall asked.

Professor Dumbledore raised his hand for silence and looked towards the young couple.

Harry ignored all the commotion and looked down into Hermione's eyes.

"You okay now?"

"Yes Harry. How did you do that?"

"No idea. The pain was getting bad and I knew I needed to be with you, so I wished it and here I am. We have to be careful about been apart until it settles down."

"I know, I just forgot. I needed to see my dad, to let him know I'm still his little girl. He's worried we did 'it' last night."

By this time the headmaster had made his way to the couple. He looked at the pair of them and smiled."You two will never cease to amaze me. Harry do you know what you did?"

Harry shook his head "Sorry sir, when we got separated the pain was really bad and I knew I needed be with her so I thought about it and here I am."

"Well whatever it was it wasn't apperation, that's impossible here even for me with the wards up. Do you mind if we do some experiments?"

"Not at all, so long as it doesn't hurt us?"

"Harry could you walk away from Hermione until you start to feel the pain. Don't go too far, I don't want to hurt either of you."

Harry looked at Hermione who nodded her head at him, and he slowly walked away from her, aware that the whole room was watching in rapt attention. He got about twenty paces away before he started to feel the edges of the pain and the longing to be with her. He could see on her face that she felt it to and so he stopped where he was.

"Now Harry, Think about Hermione and how much you need to ..."

The headmaster didn't get any further when Harry once again blinked out of existence only to re-appear in Hermione's arms. Albus smiled at them. "Ok, let's try that again but this time let's see if Hermione can do it."

Once more they pair separated until they felt the edges of the pain. Hermione looked at her husband and concentrated on been with him and without a sound she blinked out of existence only to re-appear in his arms. She smiled up at him.

"Hi you"

"Hello yourself, fancy meeting you here." She giggled at his response.

"Excellent you two, now can you do that together, when you are not apart. Try to move to the teachers table."

They held hands and concentrated on moving but after a short while they both looked up at the headmaster and shook their heads.

"Never mind, I'm sure it will come. Let's have breakfast"

After a delicious breakfast talk turned to the days plans. Harry and Hermione had decided to go to see his Aunt first then pay a visit it Gringotts and if they had time then they would try to do some clothes shopping for Harry. Mrs and Mrs Granger had asked if they could return home and had enquired if Hermione would be able to come home afterwards.

"Off course Harry you must come too. You are our son-in-law now and you will always be welcome at our house."

Harry looked pleased but nervous at the same time. He turned to Professor Dumbledore.

"I thought I would have to stay with Aunt Petunia. The blood wards you know?"

"Harry my boy that was true until yesterday. The blood wards were only effective whilst you were a child. Now that you are an adult due to your bonding they are no longer effective. You no longer have to stay at Privet drive. I would rather you stay at a Wizarding house but until we can come up with anything better I will ask a friend of mine to add wards to the Grangers house. You might want to visit the Weasleys soon so you can tell them the news."

Hermione squealed at the news that Harry could stay with her and promptly kissed him soundly. But Harry looked a little uncomfortable. As everyone got up to leave Harry turned to his new in-laws and asked them to stay for a bit.

"Can I have a word with you two please? I know this is very sudden and we've not really got to know each other, but I have to let you know that I love your daughter very much and I will never ever let anything bad happen to her if I have the power to prevent it. I will never leave her or do anything that will hurt her. I know it's normally done the other way around but I wish to formally ask for your daughter's hand."

Roger looked at the young man stood in front of him with an impressed gaze. "Young man, I can see clearly that you are sincere and that our daughter is passionately in love with you. I know you are both very young and all we ask is that you don't rush things; we don't want to be grandparents just yet. We are honoured to welcome you to our family and we would be proud to have you as our son-in-law. Now stop worrying about it and go and get on with your day. We will see you this evening yes?"

They both nodded and grinned at them and left the hall hand in hand.

Roger turned to his wife and smiled at her. "I think they are going to be fine, he's a good kid and she is so in love with him it's almost embarrassing."

"Come on love let's get home and sort out a room for them to share."

D.O.M.-D.O.M.-D.O.M.

The Knight bus stopped suddenly outside the entrance to Privet drive and a witch and a wizard stepped off both looking slightly dishevelled and more than a little nauseous.

"Next time we apparate, and license be dammed" Hermione grumbled through gritted teeth. "That thing is a safety hazard!"

Harry nodded in agreement, not trusting himself to talk just yet. He was having trouble keeping his breakfast down for two reasons. The first was the obviously uncomfortable ride on the bus, but the second was the thought of seeing his old 'home' and his Aunt and cousin. As they walked towards the house, Harry's pace became slower and slower until he stopped twenty paces from the house. He was shaking and the tears were rolling down his face as the memories of the events a few days ago assaulting his senses. Hermione was able to feel the pain and fear that he was feeling through their bond and she stood in front of him and took his head in her hands and looked deep into his tear filled eyes. She poured all her love for him into the gaze and also through the bond.

"Harry, it will be fine. I will be with you. We don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"No, I have to do this, but it's difficult. I was hurt so much here the other day. I nearly died and I would have done if it wasn't for you."

Harry stood for a short while looked at Hermione and then at the house in front of him. He squared his shoulders and his eyes took on a determined look.

"Come on, let's get this over with."

He took Hermione's hand and walked up to the door and knocked firmly. After a few seconds the door was opened by Dudley, who as usual was dressed in huge jeans and a massive T-Shirt. The major difference was the look on his face. He did something that Harry didn't think was possible – he smiled at him. This was not the usual evil smirk he used when he was inflicting pain on his cousin but a genuine happy smile. Harry absently thought that it looked odd on his piggy face, but did concede that it made him look slightly more human.

"Harry! It's good to see you. I see you brought a guest, Come in"

He opened the door fully allowing the pair to enter. Harry stared for a moment at the slight stain on the floor at the foot of the stairs. The blood had been cleaned away but before it had been moved it had time to stain the wooden flooring and there was a nasty black circle with a space in the middle where Harry's head had been. Hermione looked at the stain with wide eyes, although she had seen the extent of Harry's injuries in the hospital, it had been in a clean and sanitized ward, and nothing could prepare her for the amount of blood that had clearly been on the floor.

Dudley looked sadly at the stain and motioned for them to follow him into the lounge. They moved to the lounge and found Aunt Petunia sat on the sofa, looking very anxious. As soon as she saw Harry she stood up and rushed over to him. She didn't hug him but she did take hold of his shoulders.

"Oh Harry! I'm so glad to see you well. I cannot say how sorry I am about how we all treated you over the years. I don't expect your forgiveness but I do need to explain ourselves." As she spoke Harry could see the tears forming in her eyes as she looked at her nephew. She noticed that Harry was not alone and looked curiously at Hermione.

It took Harry a while to compose himself so Hermione introduced herself. "Hello Mrs Dursley, I'm Hermione Potter, Harry's wife. How do you do?" she said in a cool voice.

Petunia looked at both of them in surprise. "Wife? You're married? But aren't you too young for marriage?" Dudley was looking at Harry in obvious surprise, but also with a small amount of envy.

"Normally yes, we would be too young but when I saved Harry from his terrible injuries, one of the side-effects was that we became Soul Bonded and married." She said this with a certain amount of steel in her voice that the older women picked up on.

"Oh I am so sorry for Vernon's behaviour. Albus has explained to me that he was under some sort of curse that made him attack you so viciously. I also understand Harry, that it's up to you if the police prosecute him or not. Please Harry you have to help!"

Harry finally managed to find his voice, "You mean after all he did, leaving me to die, and I would of done if it wasn't for Hermione, you want me to let him off?" he asked with anger in his voice.

"No, no you misunderstood. I want, no I need you to allow the police to prosecute him."

"I beg your pardon?"

"What you need to understand is the reason we treated the way we did was because Vernon told us to. He really is a pig of a man, a bully and a violent man. Both Dudley and myself were very afraid of what he would do if we didn't obey him."

"Do you expect me to believe that all of this was Vernon's fault?"

Petunia looked at her nephew with an appraising look, and slowly and shyly raised the side of her blouse to show him her side and back. It was covered in old and new bruises and cuts.

"Always where no one can see, but it's been going on for years. He had threatened to kill me if I didn't do as he wanted and he forced Dudley to help him."

Harry looked at his aunt in horror. All the years of abuse had not been her fault. He looked over at Dudley, who was looking down at his feet.

"Dud?"

Dudley looked up at Harry and sighed. "Harry, I'm so sorry. I had no choice, if I didn't do as he told me to, he would hurt mum more. I'm sorry it was a coward's way, and we should have reported him years ago, but we were just so scared. I've actually always quite liked you and I hated doing to you what he made me do. Please forgive me and help us keep him away."

Harry was stunned and not a little afraid of the responsibility his family were putting upon him. He looked at Hermione, who was staring back at him with an appraising look in her eyes. He shook his head a few times and turned back to his aunt.

"Is this was you really want me to do?"

"Oh yes Harry please. He nearly killed you the other day, and if he was to come back I shudder to think what he would do."

Harry breathed a deep sigh. "OK, I'll tell Professor Dumbledore to allow the police to prosecute. From what he told me, Vernon will get a long prison sentence, and if you two also testify then it will be even longer. You'll never have to see him again."

Petunia started to cry at this and sat back on the sofa with her head in her hands. Dudley moved over to her and took her in his arms. He looked up at his cousin and quietly said "Thank you"

Harry looked at the sobbing woman, feeling very uncomfortable. "Er we'll just go then." He mumbled, taking Hermione's hand and moving out of the room. They had got to the door when Aunt Petunia called them back.

"Please Harry, will you come to see us soon. We have a lot to speak about and I would love to get to know more about your lovely wife."

Harry smiled shyly at his aunt. He had never heard her speak to him so nicely before, and it was pleasant. He felt Hermione squeeze his hand in encouragement.

"I would like that Aunt, we have some things to do today but we can come some other day. I'm staying with Hermione's parents at the moment, so we will ring to let you know, ok?"

She nodded and then she did hug him, gently and not without a little shyness. Harry tentatively returned the hug, but quickly broke it and with a shy smile the young couple moved away to make the dreaded journey on the Knight bus to Diagon alley.

D.O.M.-D.O.M.-D.O.M.

Once more it was a green and dizzy Hermione Potter that grumpily got of the large purple bus just outside of The Leaky Cauldron.

"Harry, we are now considered adults aren't we?"

"Yes love."

"Then the first order of business is to learn how to apparate. I am not going on that death-trap ever again."She said with venom. Harry silently laughed, but did agree with her sentiments. He knew that before long they would be learning how to apparate, and he was sure that with his clever wife's help they would both soon have the licence. Once she put her mind to something, mere age would not be a barrier. Hermione could tell that Harry was amused by her determination and with a laugh she swatted him on his bum with her hand.

"Oi you, stop laughing at me." This only made him laugh out loud and soon he descended into hysterics as she kept swatting him. It was a pair of giggling teens that finally made their way to the entrance of the imposing building of Gringotts bank. The pair managed to compose themselves before entering the building. They walked up to one of the Goblins and introduced themselves.

"Good Morning. My name is Harry Potter and this is my wife, Hermione. We are expected this morning."

"Good day Lord Potter, Lady Potter. Lord Ragnok is expecting you. Please follow me."

Hermione looked shocked at the announcement. As they followed the goblin she whispered to Harry.

"Harry, you do know that Ragnok is the head goblin. No one gets a meeting with him. Not ever."

"So why are we?"

"I don't know but be cautious, this is a rare honour."

They were taken to a large ornate room, with a large desk sat in the middle. On one side were two comfy looking chairs and on the other was the elderly shape of the Head Goblin.

"Ah Lord and Lady Potter, please come in. Have a seat, we have much to discuss. Can I offer you any refreshments?" The teens warily asked for a butterbear each, which were swiftly brought. They both sat and held there drinks looking at the goblin with nervous eyes. Ragnok looked at the two in front of him, noting the matching eye colour. He smiled to himself. He was aware of the Soul Bond of course, but to see it for himself in a pair so young did warm his old heart.

"Now, Lord and Lady Potter, we will be joined shortly by the other beneficiaries of the will of Lord Sirius Black, but before we get to that Lord Potter, I wanted to explain to you the will of your parents. Normally this would be done when you reached the age of 17, but due to your recent Soul Bond and marriage, this can happen now. As you have already guessed by our form of greeting the pair of you have now become the Lord and Lady Potter. The Potters are an old and respected family within the Wizarding world, and as such have amassed a lot of assets over the years. As the sole living descendant these all now belong to you, and due to your Soul Bond, they are also the property of the Lady Potter. As well as the title of Lord and Lady Potter, you are both entitled to one other title which I will detail later. To go through the entire contents of your inheritance would take a very long time indeed so if you will indulge me I will give you the "edited highlights" to use a muggle phrase."

The teens, not sure what to say, just nodded.

"Well, the monetary value of the estate is in the region of 636 million Galleons, but this is growing steadily, so an exact amount is impossible. There is a large collection of family jewels, rings and necklaces. You also own shares in a large number of businesses, both muggle and magical. I will arrange for the portfolio to be sent to you as soon as we can. Now, let's come to the property. You own seven large properties around the world. You have a large house in America near Salem and a large lodge in the mountains of Canada. You have a sea front villa in the South of France. There is a large castle in the Black Forest area of Germany, as well as a small house in Sydney, Australia. In the UK you have a large flat in Kensington, London, but the main family home is Potter Manor in the Devon area. No one is quite sure where the property is located as it is heavily warded and only family members can see the house without permission. I have port-keys for all of the properties, even the over-seas ones. The Australian property is a three stage port-key, as it's too far for a single jump. "

He handed over a large ornate wooden box that contained the port-keys all in the shape of large door keys. Ornate writing could be seen on them all detailing the property they belonged to.

"All of your monetary assets have been moved to one of our largest vaults. These vaults have the highest security ratings. There is no physical way to access the vaults except through using a special Gringotts port-key. No one other that the two of you can use the port-keys as they are keyed to your blood, not even us Goblins can access the vault unless you give us permission to do so. Here are your keys. All you have to do to use them is to hold them in your hand and wish to be in your vault."

And he handed them a pair of gold coins on a chains. They looked a little like a normal galleon but had runic writing over the surface. They both put them around there necks, which caused them to flash once.

"Now that you have worn these they will become attuned to your blood, you can never lose them and they cannot be forcibly taken from you. We are also going to issue you with a Gringotts money bag that will contain however much money you need, as well as special Gringotts credit cards that can be used in the muggle world." These items were dutifully handed over. "That concludes the first part of our meeting, if you would like to enjoy your drinks whilst we wait for our other guests and then we can continue with the reading of Lord Blacks will. If you will excuse me, I need to arrange a few things for the reading." And with a nod at the stunned couple he left the room.

"Harry...oh Harry. Your rich! I hope you don't think I married you for your wealth do you?" Hermione asked, joking slightly.

"Hermione Potter, don't be daft. First things first – WE are rich, what's mine is yours, and secondly we Bonded before we knew about any of this. I must admit to been a bit stunned by it all. Do you think that your parents would help us looking over the portfolio? I'm a bit clueless when it comes to that sort of thing."

"I'm sure they will help. I must admit to been a bit curious about seeing some of the houses though. I've always wanted to go to Canada and I know my parents have wanted to visit Australia." Hermione replied with an excited gleam in her green eyes.

"Hermione, I want to give some money to the Weasleys. They've been so kind to me over the years and I would love to give them something that would help them, but I'm worried they would not accept it. What do you think?"

"Well I think it's a brilliant idea, but I agree you would have to handle it carefully. I suggest speaking to Mr Weasley first as he is the most...sensible. Oh Harry, they don't know about us yet. What are we going to tell Ron and Ginny?"

Harry paled at the thought of telling Ron about their marriage. They'd both known that Ron had a crush on Hermione, and that Ginny was smitten with Harry. How where there friends going to take the news that they were now married?

"Well we will just have to honest with them and tell them. If they are our friends they will understand and be happy for us, if not then..."

Hermione sighed and took her husband's hand. "It will be okay love. If not we still have each other."

Then the door opened and Ragnok returned with an assistant carrying a large pensive in his arms. He was followed by Professor Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, Andromeda and Ted Tonks along with Nymphadora Tonks. Chairs magically appeared for the newcomers. Professor Dumbledore smiled at the pair already sat; Lupin and Tonks walked over and hugged the pair of them. "Wotcha! you two, how you doing?" Tonks asked,

"Okay I guess, we've just had some surprising news." Hermione answered

Tonks raised her eyebrows in concern, but Hermione mouthed "later" to her.

The new arrivals sat in chairs that suddenly appeared whilst Ragnok and his assistant set up the pensive. Once ready Ragnok turned to the assembled crowd and spoke.

"Lord Black asked for his will to be taken in the form of an intelligent memory. That is similar to a portrait; the image can interact with you but only about certain topics. Is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded and so Ragnok took out the vial containing the memory. Unlike the usual silver colour, this one was a multicoloured liquid that kept changing colour. It looked alive as it morphed from one hue to another. The Goblin poured the liquid into the pensive and sat back to watch. Nothing happened for a short while until the image of Sirius rose from the stone pensive. It grew to a man sized torso and smiled at the assembled group.

"Hey there guys, how you all doing?"

Harry felt the tears form in his eyes as he looked upon the face of his Godfather. He felt Hermione's hand tighten in his for support. The image of Sirius saw this and turned to Harry.

"Hey there pup, I know this is tough for you, but please don't blame yourself. I did what needed to be done, and whilst I'm sorry I cannot be there for you, I died an honourable death. I see that Hermione finally got her man then? Good for you girl." The image smiled at the two youngsters blushing at him. Harry sniffed back some tears and nodded at the image.

"Now on to my will. This is the last will and testament of Lord Sirius Orion Black. I am in sound mind and body and this will has been agreed by myself and the goblin nation and upon my magic, so mote it be...God that sounded pompous. Let's ditch the formalities shall we. "

Everyone chuckled at Sirius who grinned back at them.

"Okay, first off Remus, my old friend. I leave you five million Galleons. Get some clean cloths you old wolf. Stop been a total ass and tell that cousin of mine how you really feel. You deserve some happiness and I know she feels the same way." At this Tonks's hair went bright pink, which incidentally matched the colour of Remus's face. Both smiled shyly at each other, causing everyone else to laugh, including Sirius. "Oh and Remus, I task you with one thing, get the rat for me. Now to you two, Andromeda and Ted. For you I leave ten million Galleons, use it well you deserve it."

Both Andromeda and Ted were crying at this and both nodded at Sirius.

"Nymphadora! God I love calling you that. You are one beautiful woman and you deserve a handsome man. However for some unknown reason you fell for the old wolf over there. As well as the five million I leave for you, I task you with loving him. He's a good man and the last of the true Marauders. He will love you if you let him and you can keep him sane and happy. I expect kids soon."

Tonks smiled and suddenly moved from her spot to sit next to Remus. She took his hand and kissed him on the cheek gently. "You and me need to talk. Dinner tonight, you're paying." Remus nodded happily.

"Albus, you and I haven't always seen eye to eye. I disagreed with a lot of the things you did regarding Harry's upbringing, but I know your heart was in the right place. For this I leave the school 15 million to be used to help those who need it."

"I will be done Sirius." The headmaster replied.

Sirius now turned to his godson and smiled at him. "Harry my boy. For you it's simple. You get everything that's left. Now I'm not sure how much that is but last I check it should be around sixty million galleons. You also get the house at Grimmauld place. It's a dump, but you may find a use for it, I'm sorry but it comes with Kreacher...sorry. I also leave you my bike, use it well kid. Oh and the title, your Lord Black as well now kiddo. Judging by the stunned look on your face, you already know about the Potter stuff. Well that will now make you the richest wizard in Britain. Use the wealth wisely and pick your friends well. I see that Hermione is with you and if I can see properly, you appear to be married, that will make her the Lady Black, Merlin can you imagine the look on Bella's face when she hears that. Harry, the lady sat next to you is the is the brightest witch of our age and she will never ever leave you. Love her well and have tons of kids. I know that you can kick old Tom's butt. Live well my boy, and I'll see you on the other side many years from now."

"Bye Padfoot." Harry whispered as the image slowly dissolved.

The meeting slowly broke up, Remus and Tonks were now holding hands and left with her parents. Professor Dumbledore briefly held both Harry and Hermione before leaving as well. Ragnok handed Harry a large gold bound folder that contained all the information about the shares he owned, as well as large ledger containing the current totals of their vaults.

"Lord Potter-Black, I wish you well in your future endeavours. Remember that all you have to do to enter your vault is to use the port-key. We have transferred all of the Black estate to your vault. Is there anything the Goblin nation can do for you today?"

"No, thank you Ragnok. We are a bit overwhelmed about it all and I think I need a drink. I thank you for all your help and wish you well with all your future investments. My wife and I will visit our vaults in a few days time, but for now I need an ice-cream at Fortescues and then I need some new clothes." This last comment was met with a chuckle as the Head Goblin called for an assistant to show the young couple out. The young couple exited the bank and headed straight to the ice cream parlour to discuss the day's events.


	6. Chapter 5  Telling the Weasley's

**Sorry for the delay in this, but I hope you like it. I know where I am going with this story now, so hopefully wont be long before the next chap is up. PLEASE please review.**

**Chapter Five – Telling the Weasley's.**

Harry really enjoyed the ice-cream but the distraction wasn't going to last long. They had things to do and not just shopping. As he put down the spoon he looked across at his new wife.

"Well, that was an interesting morning. It was...good to see Sirius again" he said sadly.

Hermione looked up at him and saw the unshed tears in his eyes.

"Harry, it's okay to be sad, you –we loved him very much." She had moved to sit in his lap and she held him whilst he cried into her shoulder. After a while the tears subsided.

"Thank you for been here, Lady Potter-Black"

She giggled at the name "I would rather be nowhere else my Lord Potter-Black."

Harry smiled briefly before becoming sad once more.

"I miss him 'Mione!"

"I do too, but he will always be with us. Come on let's get you some new clothes and get you out of those rags. We need to go see the Weasleys tomorrow and let them know about us and you will need to look your best."

"Oh Merlin! What do you think Ron and Ginny are going to say?"

"Well if they are truly our friends then they will be happy, if not then...anyway, after seeing them I would like to go to visit some of your houses."

"OUR houses 'Mione, they belong to both of us now."

"Well okay, our houses. Can we take my parents to them as well?"

"Don't see why not, I need to get to know them better."

"Oh Harry, don't worry, they will love you."

"Well your mum is fine, it's your dad I worry about."

"He will be fine, you let me worry about him, now come on let's get shopping."

Shopping with Hermione was not an entirely painless experience. She was very methodical in the way they shopped and although Harry ended up with a very nice collection of new clothes, like most men he felt it took far too long.

When they exited the last shop carrying loads of bags, it was starting to get dark. "Oh Harry, how are we going to get home? And don't suggest that bloody bus!"

Harry laughed and looked around. "Well we could ask the Order member that is looking after us under a disillusionment charm over there" he said pointing to an empty corner of the street.

With a sigh, Remus Lupin removed the charm and appeared in front of them. "How did you know kid?"

"Well I know that Dumbledore wouldn't let us wander around all day unprotected and besides I could smell Tonks's perfume on you. What have you been doing?"

Remus blushed furiously but managed to maintain some semblance of dignity

"I've been doing what your godfather told me to do." He said with a smirk

Harry and Hermione smiled at their old professor. "Okay can you take us home, Harry doesn't know where my house is and my parents are expecting us."

With a smile, Remus held out one of his hands. "Don't worry; I know where your parents live. The Order has warded the house for them and we have all been given the details. Now I suggest that I take Hermione first and then Harry."

"Er what about the distance thing, we don't like been separated, last time we both collapsed" Hermione asked.

Remus thought about it for a moment, "Well I can't side-apparate both of you; I may have to call for help."

Hermione looked at the man with an odd expression. "You managed to apperate both my parents to Hogwarts?" she said in a questioning voice.

"Well, yes, but there I was apperating to an intrinsically magical place, its gave me a power boost, but here I am trying to apperate two magical people to a non-magical area. It kinda works in the other direction.

Harry suddenly spoke up, "Remus you take Hermione, if we both concentrate on each other I can try to apparate to you like I did this morning."

"Harry are you sure, you know how much it hurts us to be apart."

"Well your parents live a lot closer to London that Hogwarts was, so maybe it will be okay."

"Okay you two, if you are sure. I will take Hermione and if you do not appear within a few seconds I'll come back for you."

Hermione looked at Harry and he could see the hesitation in her eyes. Harry took her hands and looked into her green eyes. "Trust me love." She bit her bottom lip and slowly nodded. Taking Lupin's hand she kept her eyes on Harry and he smiled and blew her a kiss.

"Ready Harry?" Lupin asked. Harry nodded back and with a pop Lupin and Hermione vanished. Harry felt the beginnings of the pain of the separation, but rather than let it consume him he used the pain to his advantage; using it as a beacon to Hermione. Without a sound, he vanished and reappeared in Hermione's arms.

With a giggle she kissed him "What kept you?"

Harry smiled but then looked serious. "Did it hurt?"

She once more bit her bottom lip, "A little but nowhere near as bad as last time. I was able to control it and used it to help guide you her."

Harry wished she wouldn't bite her bottom lip like she was doing; it made him quite aroused and it drove him nuts when she did. However he just hugged her back before taking in his surroundings. He had never been to Hermione's house before and as he stood in the back garden he looked at the large house stood before him. It looked quite old but was very well maintained, there was a large conservatory on the back. The garden was large with many flowers and plants; a small green house could be seen at the bottom of the garden.

Remus looked at the young couple. "Well I will be off; I'm taking Tonks out for dinner, and I don't want to be late." With a smile and 'pop' he was gone leaving the young couple alone.

"Come on Harry let's get inside, we need to tell mum and dad about the houses and the Gringotts stuff."

"Will your parents' be okay with us...you know?"

"Harry, they already know about us, they gave us their blessing this morning, stop been a wuss and come on inside. I want to see you try all those clothes on before tea."

It was a tired Harry that walked with his wife to her parent's house. The both entered the kitchen and Hermione went upstairs with the bags of shopping, wincing at the slight pain from their separation . Harry sat down next to Roger, the amused look on his father-in-laws face spoke volumes about shopping with a Granger woman.

"Busy day son?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "You HAVE no idea. We both need to speak to you both if that's okay." Harry asked suddenly serious.

Roger looked up at Harry's serious tone. "Everything ok?"

"Yes fine but we learnt some interesting news today and we both feel it would be best to tell you as soon as possible."

"Ok, let me go find Jean, put the kettle on; I feel that we are going to need a cup of tea for this conversation."

As he left the kitchen to find his wife, Hermione bounced back into the room. "Harry, you got to come and see what mum and dad have done for us."She was practically dragging him out of the kitchen and up the stairs to one of the rooms. Harry was impressed with the warm feeling the house had, he immediately felt at home here. Hermione dragged him to what was obviously her room. It was painted a light cornflower blue colour. On one of the wall was a large bookcase, groaning under the weight of the all the books piled on there. There were a few family photos on the wall, and Harry was surprised to see a photo of Hermione and himself sat by the Black lake under one of the trees. The two in the photo were holding hands and waving madly at him. What surprised him the most was that Hermione had brought all of his new clothes into the room and had put them on a large double bed that sat in the centre of the room.

"Hermione, why have you brought my clothes into your room? I thought I'd be using the guest room."

"Don't be silly, we are married and you know we were told to stay together. Besides my parents must agree, this isn't my bed; I only had a single one before. This is a new one that my parents must have got for us. Isn't it great, that they have accepted us so well?"

Harry was embarrassed by the implication that the double bed implied. He could feel his cheeks getting red, much to the amusement of his wife.

"Is this the brave Lord Potter-Black stood before me? Come on Harry, we've slept together before, and we agreed to wait before...it. Aren't you glad that my parents have accepted the situation?"

"Well I guess so, but ..."

"But what?"

Harry found that his mouth had dried up and couldn't talk. Hermione moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Harry you can talk to me, you know that. What's up?"

Harry sighed and looked her in the eyes. "Hermione, when I'm in bed with you, it's hard to not think about 'it' you know. I love you so much, and its difficult...you know" he said, he face beet red.

Hermione smiled back at him. "Well I'm glad that's all it is. To be honest I'd be worried if you didn't think about 'it', I know I do. Don't worry Harry, all we have promised is not to have intercourse, there's other stuff we can do...if you want" she said shyly.

Harry looked at her in amazement, a massive smile on his face. "You sure?"

"Yeah" she said sucking on her bottom lip again. This time Harry couldn't resist. He brought her close and looked down on her lips, before kissing them hard. His tongue quickly sort access which she immediately granted. They kissed passionately for a few minutes when they became aware of a presence at the door of the room.

"Ahem!"

Whirling around the pair saw Roger and Jean stood in the doorway watching them with amusement in their eyes. "We wondered where you two had got to after Harry asked to speak to us; I see you found him Hermione."

"Err mum, we were just...er just"

"Don't worry darling, he is your husband after all. Sorry we should have knocked. Do you like your new bed?"

"Yes mum, thank you very much. We will be keeping our promise though."

"That's good dear, now I understand that you two wanted to speak to us, why don't we go downstairs to talk about it over some tea?"

It was a few minutes later and the four of them were say around the large kitchen table with steaming mugs of tea in their hands.

"So you two, what gives?"

"'What Gives?' Roger? Where did you pick that phrase up from?"

Roger Granger looked embarrassed. "Some of the kids that come to the surgery talk like it; I thought all the kids were speaking like it, so I thought I'd try it."

Everyone else was laughing at Roger as he tried to explain himself.

"Dad, don't try. Besides we school at Hogwarts – no one speaks like that there."

"Oh! Sorry, anyway the questions still remains...What gives?" he asked with a smile.

With a chuckle, Harry looked at Hermione. Seeing the slight nod from her he began to tell them about the trip to see his Aunt.

"So they both want you to press charges?"

"Yes, it seems that Vernon has been abusing my aunt for years. She was so scared that he would really hurt her, that's why she was so nasty to me, Dudley too it seems"

"Well I'm glad that monster is getting what he deserves, after seeing you on that hospital bed and the effect it had on Hermione." Jean muttered.

"Mum!"

"Anyway I'm guessing that there was more that you wished to tell us."

"Mum, Dad. It appears that Harry and I are important in the Wizarding world. We are also sorta rich."

"What my wife is trying to tell you is that she is now known as the Lady Hermione Potter-Black and we own a few properties around the world. We are planning on visiting a few of them if the next few days and we would like you to come with us if you would like."

There was a stunned silence and then Roger repeated in awe "Lady Hermione Potter-Black! Then that would make you Lord Potter-Black yes?"

Harry blushed but nodded.

"How many properties are we talking about?" Jean asked interested.

"Seven - two in the UK, and one in the US, Canada, France, Germany and Australia."

"How much?" Roger asked a little shyly.

"Nearly 700 million Galleons, that's nearly half a billion pounds dad."

"Whhhooooo! How much?"

"You heard dad, not that it matters to either of us, although the houses seem interesting, especially the one in the UK. It sounds nice, will you come with us?"

"When were you planning on visiting them?"

"Well we want to go to see the Weasleys tomorrow; we owe it to them to let them know about us personally. We were hoping to visit the ones in the UK the day after."

"We have surgery that day, any chance you can make it the day after, that's the Saturday and we have no morning surgery then?"

"I'm sure we can find something to entertain ourselves for a day mum."

"That's what I'm worried about" Roger muttered.

"DAD!"

"Sorry pumpkin didn't mean anything" Roger replied with a smirk.

After a lovely dinner and a short fashion show, where Harry showcased all his new clothes the young couple retired to their new bed. This time there was no embarrassment as they changed for bed. Hermione decided to wear only a pair of knickers and Harry just changed to a clean pain of boxers, after washing. The cuddled up in bed, but after a few long kisses they could feel sleep coming over them and snuggled down in each other's arms.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

The follow day after a brief breakfast they had decided that they would go to the Burrow to speak to the Weasley's. However the topic of how they would get there was still under discussion.

"Well I will NOT use that bloody bus again, it's a nightmare."

"What about using one of the guards that seem to follow us?"

"Well we could, but we could also try our thing, I know it's not true apparition but I'm not sure what to call it."

"Well it feels like I phase out of existence and then re-phase next to you, so how about 'Phasing'?" Harry replied after a moment's thought

"Well it will do for the time been. Shall we try it together? I felt we nearly did it that time in the Great Hall, and after last night I think we can do it."

"Okay, where do we want to aim for?"

"Well there are probably anti-apparition wards over the Burrow, and they may get in the way, so how about on the main path up to the house. We can walk the rest of the way."

"That's a good idea; shall we go outside into the back garden so we are out of the wards, to do this?"

Harry took Hermione's hand and led her to the back garden. Looking into her emerald eyes, he asked "Ready?"

Before Hermione responded, she took out a pair of dark sunglasses to cover up her new green eyes. Harry raised an enquiring eyebrow.

"I want to tell them before they see my eyes. If they see them first then we will lose control of the conversation."

Harry nodded, trust his Hermione to come up with this solution.

"Ready now?"

She nodded and they both concentrated on the path leading to the Burrow. Without a sound they phased out of existence and re-phased exactly where they wanted to. Back in the Granger's back garden Tonks looked at the spot where the couple had stood. She was under orders not to let them out of her sight and she had been sure that they wouldn't be able to apperate without her help.

"Bugger!" she swore. She did not look forward to telling the Order that she had lost them.

D.O.M.-D.O.M.-D.O.M.

Harry was ecstatic that it had worked. They now could go anywhere without help. Hermione was equally pleased and a little surprised that they had found it so easy. To be honest she felt a little afraid by the feeling of power she could feel, not only in herself but in Harry to. The feeling had been growing steadily since the bond, and she was a little worried what would happen when one of them had to use a wand in anger. She made a mental note to speak to professor Dumbledore as soon as possible.

They linked fingers and slowly walked up the long pathway to the odd looking house that was the home of their friends, Harry still having to use the cane that he had been given.

"How do you think Ron will react, or Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"Well I really hope that they can be happy for us. It's Molly I'm worried about; she'll crush us with hugs if I'm not mistaken." Harry replied with a small laugh.

Hermione smiled back at him and the rest of the walk was in happy silence. They soon were walking up to the front door of the Burrow. They stood by the door for a few seconds to prepare themselves.

"Ready?" Harry asked letting go of her hand. Hermione nodded back and Harry sharply knocked on the front door. The door was opened a few seconds later by Ron. He looked at the pair with a big beaming smile on his face.

"Harry! Hermione! Great to see you. Come on in, how have you both been? How did you escape the Dursleys? How come you are allowed here on your own?" His face fell onto the cane and his expression took on a darker tone. "What the hell's that?"

Harry laughed as he followed his mate into the house. "Which question would you like me to answer first?"

"MUM! HARRY AND HERMIONE ARE HERE! Sorry, but it's so good to see you. It's been a little boring here some of the time. Gred and Forge have been away setting up some sort of Joke shop in Diagon Alley, Merlin knows where they got the money from, and Mum's been going nuts. So it's just been me and Ginny…..and Luna." Ron said the last bit with a small smile on his face. Before anyone could comment, Molly Weasley burst into the room and enveloped first Harry and then Hermione in a hug.

"Harry, Hermione it's so good to see you. How did you get away from the Dursleys?"

Harry laughed once he had recovered from the hug and started breathing once more. He spotted Ginny following her mother into the room and saw that she was shyly smiling at him.

"Ron asked us the same question. We have to tell you lot something quite important. Can we sit down?"

Mrs Weasley looked at the pair, Hermione was still wearing her sunglasses, but she could tell that something had happened between the two. 'And why did Harry need a cane?'

"Come on into the kitchen, I'll make some tea and we can talk." They all trooped into the kitchen at sat at the careworn wooden table. Mrs Weasley pottered around making the tea and soon they all had steaming mugs in their hands. She'd noticed that Harry and Hermione were sat very close and that Hermione still had her sunglasses on, even though it wasn't that sunny today.

"Now what did you want to tell us? Is everything okay?"

Harry looked at Hermione who nodded back at him. "Yes Mrs Weasley everything is okay now, but I guess I need to start at the beginning. A few days ago, my Uncle started to get really angry with me, it seems that he was under an Imperious Curse and eventually hit me at the top of the stairs. I fell down breaking my leg and arm. I also hit my head and it started to bleed. When my Uncle got down to me he was in a rage and apparently kicked me in the head quite a few times, and then left me to die."

Both Mrs Weasley and Ginny had paled at the conversation; Ron had gone red in the face with anger.

Harry carried on anyway. "Well I was taken to a hospital in London where they sent me for surgery, the Muggle way. They put me on a special ward, but they had decided that I was brain dead. They wanted permission to turn of the machines that were keeping me breathing and permission to use my organs for transplant."

"What does all that mean Harry?" Mrs Weasley asked in a subdued whisper.

"Well when the brain is dead in the Muggle world they can use the other organs, like the heart and lungs to put into other people who are really sick. But they need permission to do so, and I had written that I wanted Hermione to be my next of kin in the Muggle world. Anyway they finally found her and she came to see me...Hermione do you want to tell them the next bit, I was out of it anyway."

Hermione continued the story. "When I got there they told me that Harry was de...dead.."she broke off at this but and Harry took her hand and whispered "Shhs Its okay love."

This was not missed by anyone, and Mrs Weasleys hand went to her mouth. Ginny's eyes started to fill as she began to realise the significance of his words.

Hermione managed to compose herself before continuing. "They asked my permission to switch of the life-support machine and that's when I sorta lost it. I don't know how I did it but I entered Harry's mind and somehow healed him. That's when it got really complicated. When I healed him we sorta...Soul Bonded. I told him that I love him and he loved me...anyway we are now married...sorry Ron, Ginny!"

She said the last sentence very quickly and immediately began to blush. The response was immediate. Mrs Weasley began to scream in delight, pulling the pair into a swift hug. Ron surprised them both by laughing and saying. "Well about bloody time!"

Ginny however paled her bottom lip trembling. "NO! That's not fair. He's mine!" and she ran from the room out to the garden in tears.

There was silence for a short while before Ron said, "Leave her, she'll come around. So you two are married eh? Trust you Harry not to do the normal thing."

Harry laughed, "You have no idea Ron, 'Mione I think it's time to take off your glasses."

Hermione slowly removed her sunglasses, keeping her head lowered. Once she had removed them, she lifted her head up and looked at the two sat in front of her. Her emerald green eyes seemed to glow in the morning light. There was a gasp from both Ron and his mother as the evidence of their Soul bond was clear to see.

"Hermione, you look beautiful!" Mrs Weasley gasped. "I've never heard of a Soul Bond causing that to happen though."

"Yes, even Professor Dumbledore doesn't know why it happened for certain, but he thinks it's because our souls are so entwined so I took some of his appearance and he mine. Harry's hair is more brown that it was before now."

"Harry mate, any other major revelations?"

"Err. Well we found out that I'm Lord Potter-Black and that 'Mione is Lady Potter-Black from the goblins, but that's all nonsense, what's important that my Hermione is with me."

"Whoa, Lord Potter-Black, that's so cool!"

"Who else know?" Mrs Weasley asked, her delight evident on her face

"Well apart from my mum and dad, there's Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey and Tonks and Lupin. And now you guys, we don't want to tell everyone just yet but you can tell your family. It was as much of a surprise to us as it was to you."

Mrs Weasley went to write a few letters asking her family to come for lunch today so they could celebrate.

Harry was looking at Ron with a concerned look. "You okay about this mate? I mean it's sudden an all but you've gotta know I love 'Mione deeply. I know you sorta had a crush on her." This caused Hermione to blush but Ron laughed.

"Mate, I've known for years that you two were meant for each other. I know I don't always show it but I am aware of stuff like that. What did surprise me is that you two didn't seem to know. Talk about dim!, and yes I did have a thing for you Hermione, but I knew that I couldn't come anywhere close to Harry, besides I think I'm in love with someone else."

"Ron, I'm so glad you are happy for us, I was worried that you would get mad. And just who are you in love with?" Hermione asked with a smile

Ron looked back at her with a dreamy smile on his lips. "Luna" he announced.

Hermione's mouth opened and closed but no words came out. Finally she got her voice under control.

"Luna, I thought you thought she was 'Loony'?"

"Don't call my Luna 'Loony'! She doesn't like that name." Ron replied with a passion not normally seen in him.

"Sorry Ron, I didn't mean anything. I was just surprised that's all. I didn't know you liked her."

"Well she has been visiting Ginny over the summer and we sorta fell for each other. We finally started going out the other day. It's brill!" he said with a goofy smile.

Harry sighed, "Talking of Ginny, I guess I will have to go and speak with her. I just hope she hasn't gone too far away."

Ron looked oddly at Harry, "What does how far she's gone have to do with it?"

"Well two things, first thing is my leg hurts.."

"Yeah what is it with the cane. I thought you were healed."

"Mostly, something went wrong with my leg, something to do with the Muggle surgery getting in the way of the magic. Madam Pomfrey says it will get better, but for now I have to walk with the cane and it makes my leg hurt."

"Oh, and the other thing?"

"Well since 'Mione and me are bonded, we find it hard to be apart. It hurts like hell actually, but it's slowly getting better. If Ginny has walked a long way off, then I will hurt but I still have to go talk to her. 'Mione, try not to Phase to me if you can help it please"

Ron looked puzzled. "Phase?"

"Don't worry I'll explain later. Better go and see her then."

Harry walked slowly out of the kitchen and into the back garden. He could see Ginny with her head bowed sat under one of the trees, quite a long way down in the garden. He could tell that she was crying, so he slowly limped down the uneven garden. As he got further down, he could start to feel the pain that was now typical of been away from Hermione. He gritted his teeth and continued to walk to Ginny. He could sense that Hermione was also feeling the pain but he needed to speak to the younger girl. As he got close, he could hear her sobbing.

"Ginny." He spoke softly. "Gin, look at me."

The young red head looked up at him. The tears were falling from her eyes as she sobbed.

"H., c-c-could you? You how I f-f-feel about you."

Harry painfully knelt in front of her.

"Gin, I'm so sorry. Neither of us wanted to hurt you, but I cannot help my feelings."

"I thought you loved me?"

"I do love you Gin, but I love you as a brother loves a sister. You are very important to me, but I'm sorry I just don't love you that way. If your honest, I'm not sure you really love me that way either."

"I DO LOVE YOU! How dare you say that?"

"Gin, you really don't know me that well. I think you love "The Boy that Lived" you love the idea of me, but I'm not sure that you really love me"

"I DO Harry, I always have"

"That's just it, you say you always have but we hardly spoke until last year, and then really only about Quidditch. How can you love me when you have hardly spoken to me?" he said softly. He was grimacing because of the pain of the separation.

Ginny looked up at Harry and was shocked at how pale he looked. He was sweating a little and she could see the pain in his eyes.

"Harry, what's the matter?"

"Do you think we could walk back to the house a little way? Due to our Soul Bond, if I'm separated from Hermione to much it starts to hurt us both. I just need to get a little closer to her."

Ginny looked at Harry, she actually looked AT him for the first time. Not only could she see the pain, but the total love he had for the elder girl. She felt herself blushing as the intensity of the love she could see. She slowly stood up.

"Can you give me a hand up, this bloody leg is giving me some jip"

She helped him to his feet, and looked at the cane with an enquiring look.

"Long story, can I explain when we get a little closer." He was looking really unwell now and they had only gone a few paces when he fell to his knees with a low cry. Without a sound, a pale and distraught looking Hermione phased into existence next to him, and immediately took him in her arms. Within seconds, the colour had returned to both their faces and they both stood, arms wrapped around each other. Ginny watched the pair with barely concealed envy, that was until she saw Hermione's eyes. As soon as she saw the emerald green eyes, that so matched Harry's, she then knew that all was lost for her. For such a profound change to occur she knew that these two were bound to each other for all eternity. All of a sudden her thoughts became clear; she could not get in the way of such a deep love, to do so would be immoral. That got her thinking about what Harry had said to her. Did she really love Harry, or did she love the idea of Harry? Like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders she realised that she did not love Harry, any more than she loved her brothers. She had wanted Harry; she still did, but love? No, lust yes but not real love. As she watched the pair comfort each other, tears sprung to her eyes. They looked so good with each other. She realised that they were both looking at her, obviously misinterpreting her tears.

"Ginny, I'm so sorry" Hermione whispered.

Ginny looked at Hermione and at her eyes. She involuntarily moved her hand to her face and her eyes, "So beautiful" she whispered before shaking her head and moving her hand away. "Sorry. Hermione I'm very happy for you both. You are clearly meant for each other. I cannot say I hurt right now, but I will get over it. I think Harry was right, I loved the idea of Harry, not Harry himself, that said it still hurts. I promise you both I will not get in the way."

Hermione took her hand and smiled at her. "Ginny, we both love you. I'm sorry you're hurting, but you have to know how much Harry means to me. I love him and it's not just the Soul Bond talking, but we will always want you as a friend. Now come on lets go see the rest of the family. I think your mum is inviting all of them over for dinner."

The three of them walked back to the house arm in arm, Harry in the middle. When they got to the kitchen, the first thing the noticed was the house was a lot fuller than when they left. The young couple were immediately pounced upon by the twins who had just arrived.

"So it's true then?"

"You two are married!"

"Just look at her eyes!"

"Just like his"

"Aww ain't that sweet"

"Disappointed we didn't get an invite"

"Yeah, but it seems no one did"

"Well then we will have to arrange a party"

"A good one Fred"

"A real big one George"

Harry and Hermione endured the conversation with their usual patience, but at this they felt they had to intervene

"Guys, no large party please. We wish to keep this a secret for as long as we can. If everyone knows it may endanger both of us" Harry pleaded. The two twins looked momentarily downhearted before both grinning.

"Ok, small party, but with big fireworks, here!"

"As soon as possible!"

They both hugged the pair and wandered off planning the party. Ron had walked over to them.

"Hermione what did you do? One second you were looking ill and then you vanished. You didn't even make the noise that apperation makes, you just faded away?"

Hermione chuckled and proceeded to tell Ron about their new ability. Ron was amazed and demanded that they show him. The next hour or so was spent in a game of hunt 'Harry'n'Mione' as they phased around the house and garden. Ginny and the twins took part, the two twins taking to the air on broom to help hunt for them. After a very enjoyable lunch which Mr Weasley was able to attend and added his words of congratulations, the pair finally managed to get away and silently phased back to the Granger's back-garden. It was getting quite late but Harry could tell something was bothering Hermione through the bond. When he asked her about it she told him that she needed them both to go to see Professor Dumbledore the following day to check something out. She refused to be drawn out further, stating that she was still figuring something out herself. After a pleasant evening meal with Jean and Roger, the couple retired to bed. Once more they undressed to their briefs and boxers, kissing and cuddling but no more, although Harry did mention that it was getting more difficult to resist her. Hermione secretly found that thought very tantalising, as she was finding it very hard not to jump him as well. They quickly fell asleep, however Hermione didn't sleep well as she still had a lot on her mind.


	7. Chapter 6  Finding out more

**Chapter Six – Finding out more**

**A/N Okay, I'm nervous about this chapter. It includes a brief sex scene (I really don't know why they are called Lemon scenes?) that I have been worried about including. I have rewritten it so many times, the sex scene in, the sex scene out that I wasn't sure what was best. This is a M rated story so will cover adult situations, such as the violence in chapter one. I wanted to show that Harry and Hermione are married and are young adults. As young adults they will experiment, especially now that they are married. There will not be many sex scenes in this story, with at least one more at a crucial part of the story, but I will try not to be too graphic. I hope everyone reading is okay with the scene below and I apologise if anyone is offended. You have been warned.**

**On another note, after reading this chap, please don't worry that I will be making H&H mega powerful, in fact this story will not be your usual magical story, but will take an unusual route, part of which will be started here. **

**Please Review.**

Harry awoke to see a pair of gorgeous green eyes looking at him. He smiled at Hermione as she gazed at him. She was lying on his chest; her hair fanned around her, and was looking up at him with the most loving expression on her face.

"Morning love" Harry smiled

Hermione didn't answer but moved up to him and gave him the most passionate kiss he had ever had. It made his heart flutter wildly and sent all the blood rushing south. He inadvertently groaned into her mouth, causing her he run her hand down his chest to his stomach. Her touch was like fire on his skin and he found his hand clasping her bum without any conscious thought.

"Hermione we need to stop now unless you want to end up somewhere we are not quite ready for."

"Harry, Shhhsss, don't think, just do!"

And she deepened the kiss, her tongue playing with his as her hand crept further south until she slipped it into his boxers and gently held his erection, pulling his boxers down in the process. Harry was lost now, totally unable to resist this beautiful woman as she fondled him. Harry slipped his hand under her panties until he felt the warmth of her core. She was soaking wet as he gently slipped in one of his fingers into her warm folds and with another teased her hard clitoris. Hermione groaned loudly, all the while increasing the speed with which she was rubbing his hard erection. She had never experienced feeling like she was doing so now. Sure, she had experimented by herself, but that was nothing compared to the shudders she was feeling every time Harry's finger entered her. She felt herself getting closer and closer to her climax.

"Harry, I'm going to cum!" she moaned loudly before finally flying over the edge. She felt the walls of her pussy clench on his fingers and drench his hand in her warm juices.

"Oh Harry!" she nearly screamed, only the thought of her parents hearing keeping her voice down.

Harry had never felt anything like it. He could feel Hermione spasming on his fingers all the while her hand was pumping up and down on him. His vision blurred as he climaxed, covering her hands.

"Mione!" he moaned.

Once both of them had come back down to Earth. Hermione quickly used her wand to clean them both up and cheekily looked at him and said "Morning love, Fancy some breakfast"

"Well after that I do. What brought that on? I thought we were going to wait?"

"Well for the main course we are, but I just wanted you to enjoy the aperitif. Now come on let's get washed and up, I want to go to see Dumbledore today."

An hour later the pair were sat drinking coffee and eating toast in the large kitchen. The meeting with Hermione's parents as they came downstairs was a little strained. Jean had a silly smile on her face as she looked at her daughter, whilst Roger looked slightly green as he greeted the pair. It was obvious that they had not been quiet enough, and whilst nothing was said, it was obvious that Roger was not a happy man.

Hermione whispered to her husband as he froze at the sight of his annoyed father-in-law, "Next time we will use a silencing charm", but out loud she said "What would you like for breakfast my HUSBAND?" The obvious emphasis of the word 'husband' prevented any further problems as the parents realised that the couple were well and truly married and they could do what any other married couple could do if they wished. Her father still was looking daggers at Harry though, but eventually he just looked sad. Breakfast was started in silence, but after a while Hermione took pity on her father.

"Oh Dad, stop worrying. I am still you little girl..just. Anything that happens between my husband and me is our concern. I know Harry cannot hurt me; the bond will not allow it, so quit worrying and be happy for us. I still love you, you know"

Roger looked at his only child with unshed tears in his eyes as he finally realised that another man was the most important male in her life. He could either accept it or lose her, and he chose not to lose her.

"I'm sorry Pumpkin, and I am sorry Harry. I know you will look after her. But please, can you cast a silencing charm next time. That is the right name for it isn't it? There are something's a father should never have to hear."

Hermione and Harry were now both blushing furiously at the thought of the next time, and the thought that her parents had accepted the situation.

"Off course dad" Hermione demurely replied. Breakfast resumed with a more normal feel to the atmosphere. Conversation got around to the days plans.

"So what are you two going to do today?" Jean asked with a smirk and raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"MUM! We are going to see Dumbledore today, something is bothering me and I need to ask him about it"

"What's bothering you dear?" Harry also wanted to know as she had not told him yet.

"Well it's about our power. Since the bonding I have been feeling a lot more powerful and to be honest it scares me. I haven't dared cast a spell yet as I'm not sure what it would do."

Harry thought about it for a while before agreeing. "You know what, your right. I feel much more powerful. And our phasing thing, that's something I've not heard about before. Your right Hermione, we need to speak to Dumbledore."

Hermione smiled at him for agreeing with her. She had been worried that Harry would disagree with her, but the increase in power she had been feeling was worrying her. She was terrified in case she hurt someone just by casting a spell.

D.O.M.-D.O.M.-D.O.M.

After breakfast, the two young lovers found themselves phasing to the gates of Hogwarts. They had sent Hedwig ahead with a message for the headmaster the night before, and found Mr Filch waiting for them at the gates to let them in. He grunted at them in his usual happy manner before escorting them to the headmaster's office, taking longer than usual as Harry was still using his stick.

"Sir, your guests!" he almost snarled.

"Thank you Argus" Professor Dumbledore replied with a twinkle in his eye. He knew how unpleasant his caretaker could be. Maybe it was time to do something about it, but that could wait until later.

"Now you two, I understand that you wished to discuss something with me?" Albus asked looking into the two pairs of identical green eyes.

Harry nudged Hermione, "It's your party" he whispered.

Hermione smiled at him and looked her headmaster in the face. "Sir, something has been bothering me since we bonded. I feel a lot more powerful than before. I can feel the magic almost leaking out of me and to be honest it scare me. I haven't dared cast a spell since then, and then there's this 'phasing' thing. I have never read about that ability before, even with other Soul Bonded couples."

"I feel the same sir" Harry added.

Albus chuckled to himself, trust Mrs Potter to of done some research. Harry stared at his wife, 'When did she have time to look it up?' he thought to himself.

Almost as if she read his mind, Hermione looked back at him. "I did some reading the other night when you were asleep, you know me"

Harry laughed and took her hand, kissing it as he did. The headmaster looked warmly at the young couple in front of him. They really did complement each other.

"Well let's see Hermione. We can test your magical power and compare it to the last time you were tested."

"But sir, we have never been tested before?"

The headmaster managed to look slightly uncomfortable at this. "Well that's not strictly true. During you lessons, especially your defence lessons, when you are asked to cast spell we can monitor the power of them and we keep the information for the ministry. It's a legal requirement that we do so. I can look up both yours and Mr Potters, and then we can so a few more spells and compare them."

Hermione didn't look that happy about the school keeping secret records about them, but let it pass for the moment. She was more concerned about getting the comparison done.

"Okay sir, what do we need to do?"

"Well first things first we need to find your current score. It's measured as a number between 1 and a 1000, most adults score about the 300-500 mark, most students are in the 200-350 mark. Merlin was the highest at the 1000 level, hence the reason it goes up to 1000."

"What are you sir, if you don't mind me asking." Hermione asked curiously.

With a small chuckle and a smile the headmaster answered. "I don't mind at all, I'm 765, the only other person to come close was Tom Riddle at 762. Now let's see where you two are scored." The headmaster had pulled out a large leather bound ledger. He was running his fingers down the list of names. Hermione's name had magically moved from the 'G' section to the 'P' section to reflect her new surname.

"Now Harry, you were 332, very high for a student, in fact one of the highest on record for when you were a fifth year, and Hermione, you were only a little lower at 328. Shall we go to the Defence classroom and do some testing then?"

Both teens nodded and followed there headmaster to the Defence class room. As they entered, Professor Dumbledore waved his wand, and two dummies with a target on their chests appeared. The desks magically moved to the side of the room leaving an empty space.

"Now who would like to go first?"

It was decided that since Hermione had asked for the meeting then it would be only right for her to have the honours. "What do I need to do sir?"

"Just cast your most powerful stunner at the target and it will measure the power for you."

With an encouraging kiss on the lips, Harry pushed Hermione forward. She gingerly took out her wand and stood in front of the target. She pointed it at the dummy and took a deep breath. Concentrating on her magic she shouted "STUPEFY!", but her surprise and to both of the others nothing happened. No spell, no beam of light – nothing. She tried again but this resulted in the same outcome. With tears in her eyes she looked back at the pair behind her. Both had looks of surprise on their faces.

"Sir, what's gone wrong. I can feel my magic; I know it's still there. Merlin, we phased here this morning not less than a hour ago, so why cannot I cast this spell." Tears were rolling down her face by now.

"I honestly don't know Hermione, Harry you have a go."

Harry stepped up to the second dummy and shouted "STUPEFY!", but once more this had no effect. Harry was also unable to cast the spell. He turned around clearly shocked, but somewhat pleased that it wasn't just Hermione.

"Any ideas sir?" he asked.

Dumbledore thought for a while. Suddenly he had an idea. He went to a cupboard and took out a wand and handed it to Harry.

"Try this one Harry"

"Why what is it sir?"

"It's an unbound wand. We use them sometimes for first years who are struggling. It is just a very basic wand that hasn't the ability to bind with a wizard. It is not as powerful as a normal wand but I think it may work for you, sort of."

Harry shrugged and handed his normal wand to Hermione before standing in front of the target once more. Raising the wand he shouted "STUFEFY!" this time the results were more spectacular. The target exploded into many pieces, but more worryingly was the effect it had on the wand. The end of the wand vaporised, leaving Harry hold a charred stick and a startled expression.

"What the Fu...! Sorry sir!"

With a small smile at the young man's near expletive, Albus looked towards the spell monitor. This was a small counter embedded in the wall. He nearly swore himself when he saw the number displayed there, for it read 845. This was astonishing in itself, but didn't explain the problem with their wands. He wordlessly handed another wand to Hermione and motioned for her to do the same. Once more the dummy exploded and Hermione was left holding a burnt wand. The display read once more 845, as it had with Harry. When they both viewed the results, they were both shocked.

"They were both the same!" Harry said.

"And they were both so high" Hermione breathed, shocked at the result and slightly embarrassed that the number was higher than the headmasters.

"But why didn't our wands work sir?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore thought for a while before answering the question. "I think they were protecting themselves. You both saw what happened to the unbound wands. These will have been less effective for both of you and you saw the number you both got. It your wands were to work, well the number may be off the scale, but the wands would explode. They would not be able to take that sort of power, so they stopped working to protect themselves and you. It would appear that you two are the most powerful magic users since Merlin."

"Wow! I mean wow, but if we cannot use our wand then what good is it?"

"I would suggest a trip to Ollivanders; he will be able to help you both with some modifications to your wands. Take the charred remains of the unbound ones, he will be able to use the information left in them to help you."

The two teens thought about the events of the morning so far before Hermione asked, "And the phasing?"

"I heard you use that term before. I assume you mean your ability to soundless and wandlessly apparate to each other?"

"Well we can now go anywhere with it, as long as we are together. We can use it to go to each other when separated, but it doesn't feel like apperation. Apperation feels horrible; this just feels like we move locations seamlessly."

"And the name?"

"Well Harry came up with it sir. He said it felt like we phased from one location to another so it sorta stuck."

"Amazing, I have never heard of anything like it. Let me do some research and we can discuss it later. Tell me something, do you think you could phase through the wards here at Hogwarts?"

Both teens nodded, "It seems that wards have no effect sir"

"Then why did you appear at the gates and not in the castle?"

"Well sir that would have been rude" Hermione answered indignantly.

The headmaster couldn't help but laugh loudly at her comment. She blushed slightly before replying

"Well, what is right is right. Now that we've knocked on your gate the once we don't need to do it again. Come on Harry let's get to Diagon Alley" and she took Harry's hand

Trying not to smile at his young wife's antics and with an apologetic look towards his headmaster the pair phased away without a sound.

"Amazing! Just Amazing!" Albus muttered to himself.

D.O.M.-D.O.M.-D.O.M.

In a dark dank cellar beneath a run down Muggle building, the Dark Lord sat in a large chair brooding. His snake slithered around the room, having just eaten her last meal that her master had given her - some dead muggle woman that the Dark Lord had tortured for fun. Now Voldemort was brooding, thinking about his defeat at the Ministry, and how much he wanted to kill Harry 'Fucking' Potter. He was also waiting for news from the 'Rat' about his latest plan. If the useless rat found what he had been sent for then all of this may change. He could get rid of the Muggle born and Half-blood's in one fell swoop. He conveniently forgot that he was a half-blood off course.

After a while, he heard the distinctive sound of someone apperation into the cellar's adjacent room. Sitting up in anticipation he waited for the door to hesitantly open. A small shambling figure entered carrying a large canvas bag, which he carefully placed on the floor before prostrating himself before Voldemort.

"My Lord, I have..."

"CRUCIO!" shouted the Dark Lord and Peter's world dissolved into nothing more that razor sharp pain. Voldemort held his servant under the curse for a full minute before releasing him.

"Hell I missed torturing you, Report Wormtail!"

It took a little while before Peter was able to talk but soon he delivered his report to his master. "M-M-My Lord. I was successful, I found the item in the place you mentioned." As he was speaking the rat was opening the canvas bag and slowly withdrew a large crystal. It was a deep red colour and seemed to blur as you looked at it. Peter slowly shuffled forward and handed the large crystal to his master. Voldemort took the item and gazed deep into it. He had never seen one before but had read all about its properties. If used correctly this would grant him his deepest desires and place him up amongst the gods.

"A Chronos Crystal! At last. You have done well Wormtail. You may leave me now but don't go far, I will need your services once again soon."

Peter Petigrew slinked off to the other room, pleased to of got away with only one curse throw at him

"Soon Nagini, soon we will be rid of these Half-bloods and Muggle-born's. Soon we will rule the magical world and then the whole world."

D.O.M.-D.O.M.-D.O.M.

Without a sound the young lovers arrived in a corner of Diagon Alley, unnoticed by anyone. Harry looked around at the magical street before slowly walking towards Ollivanders. It seemed that his leg was hurting more today, but Madam Pomfrey had warned him that this would happen as his leg healed. He painfully used his stick to take some of the weight and Hermione took his other side. He smiled gratefully at her, aware that she could feel some of his pain through the bond.

"You okay?" she asked

"I am when I'm with you love" Harry replied

Hermione screwed her face up at his reply. "That was a corny line Harry" she said with a laugh.

"But its true love" Harry answered with a smile.

"Come on you, let's get to Ollivanders and sort this out. We can then go home and you can rest your leg. I might give Madam Pomfrey a call and get her to look at it for you."

"Okay, I think that would be good"

By now they had arrived outside the old wandmakers shop, the single wand lying on its faded purple cushion still visible in the dusty window. As they opened the door and entered the store they saw the old wandmaker stood behind the desk. He was working on some books as they entered but looked up when he heard the door open.

"Ah Mr Potter, Holly with a Phoenix feather and 11 inches, and Miss Grainger, Vine with a dragon Heartstring and 10¾ inches , or should I say Mrs Potter?" as he noticed her new eye colour.

"It's Mrs Potter now sir."

"Ah excellent, how may I be of service to you two today, you haven't broken your wands have you?" He asked with an edge to his voice. It seemed that Garrick Ollivander viewed his wands as his children and wasn't that happy to seeing them broken.

"Er no sir, but we do have a little problem with our wands. They won't work for us now."

"What do you say, that's very unusual, and I think you had better tell me the whole story."

So the pair proceeded to tell the old man what had transpired. He gasped in shock when they told him there magical quota number, but was interested in looking at the two unbound wands. After examination of the two destroyed wands he came to the same conclusion as their headmaster had come to.

"So you're too powerful for your wands eh! Now that's rare. What you need is your wands strengthening to allow your increased power to flow. What I propose is that we add an extra core to your wands. Now double cored wands are rare and are very expensive, but I will do this at cost for you two. What we need to do is find a core that will suit the pair of you but will also work with your existing wand core. Now Mrs Potter, you may be the hardest to help. Dragonheart string is very powerful and will normally overpower any other core, but I have an idea, but I will need to contact a few people in order to help. Can I suggest you go for some lunch and come back in an hour?"

With a nod they exited the shop and wandered over to The Leaky Cauldron for some lunch. Just as they were getting to the entrance to the Wizarding pub, a familiar voice drawled at them

"So, if it isn't Potter and the Mudblood, shouldn't you be with your muggle relatives Potter, and what is the Mudblood doing here? Nice cane by the way, fell off your broom did you Potter?" Draco Malfoy sneered.

With a sigh, both teens turned, wands drawn, and faced the blond haired youth. As usual he had his two slabs of beef with him, but this time he also had the pug-faced Pansy Parkinson hanging on his arm. As the two Potter's turned to face them, Hermione's new eyes came into view, causing both Draco and Pansy to take a gasp as they saw the new colour. What Crabbe and Goyle thought about it wasn't registered as no one told them to think at that moment.

"What happened to your eyes Mudblood?"

"Malfoy, you will stop calling my wife by that name or I will remove your larynx, via the long way round."

"Your WIFE? You married the Mudblood whore? What a ..."

Draco never got to finish his sentence, as he found himself flying backwards into Goyle with his face covered in boils. It seemed that Harry had wandlessly cast one spell whilst at the same time Hermione had cast the other. Neither had used their wands as they both knew that they wouldn't work. It didn't seem to matter that much though.

"NEVER CALL MY WIFE THAT NAME AGAIN YOU FERRET!" Harry yelled at him. What was more frightening was the glow that was emanating from Harry's eyes and the magical wind that had whipped up around him as he glared down at his nemesis. Malfoy did the only thing his terrified body could do at that moment. The thin yellow trickle of liquid running down the pathway testament to the blonde's cowardice. Harry watched the liquid drain away and just laughed. He stood and took his wife's hand and carried on walking. As he passed the astonished and frightened Pansy he looked at her. "I'd get a new boyfriend if I was you, one that truly cares about you. It seems that the current one is just taking the piss." With a laugh the two walked away. Pansy looked down at her piss-soaked 'boyfriend' and took a moment to re-evaluate her life. Within seconds she had come to the same conclusion that Harry had, this ferret was no good for her, she was better than that. She pulled off the promise ring that he had given her and threw it at him.

"Bye Draco, and for Merlin's sake, clean yourself up, you stink." And she walked off towards the alley and out of his life.

"I'm going to kill you Potter and your Mudblood wife!" Malfoy snarled as he stood and tried to dry his trouser.

Meanwhile as the young couple walked into the pub, Hermione turned to Harry.

"Well there goes our secret, now everyone will know by the time we get back to school." She said somewhat annoyed.

Harry looked at his wife, "Are you ashamed of us?" he asked in a sad voice. Immediately Hermione regretted her words. She should have known that Harry would misinterpret her words due to his lack of confidence, 'Damm those Dursleys' she thought not for the first time.

"Harry James Potter, I am neither ashamed of you or us. I am over the moon to be your wife and would gladly stand on top of the Astronomy tower and shout it to the whole of the school."

Harry smiled at her, "Okay you do that!"

"What? I was joking; you don't really want me to do that do you?"

"Yes, I want you to stand on the tower and shout that you and I are married." He said with a smirk, teasing her. He wouldn't really make her do it, but he was enjoying the look on her face.

Hermione was astonished, on one level she knew that Harry was teasing her, but the more she thought about it the more she liked the idea. It was so romantic, and very soon everyone would know anyway. The rumour wagon at the school was very fast and this was she could control it and let everyone know her love for the young man stood in front of her.

"Okay, I will!" she declared

Harry looked at her dumbfounded, "I was only kidding, I would never make you do something like that."

"I don't care, I going to do it at the first opportunity. I love you Harry and I want everyone to know about it, damm the consequences!"

Harry couldn't believe it, Hermione was never this reckless. "Who are you and what have you done with my wife?" he asked with a smile,

"Harry, I'm fed up off been boring Hermione Granger all the time, its time I let loose my inner Potter" she replied with a grin.

Harry rolled his eyes, 'What had he let loose?' he mused

After a pleasant lunch the pair returned to Ollivanders. As soon as they opened the door, Mr Ollivander was as their side, practically bouncing on his feet with excitement.

"Come in, come in. I have had a very fruitful hour. Let me take you to the back room and tell you what I propose we do about your problem." They followed the old man into the small workshop at the back of the store. It had shelves from floor to top, covered in boxes of wands. There was a small work bench in the corner of the room and upon the bench rested one bright red and yellow feather. The feather was easily recognisable to the pair.

"Fawkes!" Harry breathed.

"Yes Mr Potter. I contacted your headmaster and asked if Fawkes would donate one of his feathers for Miss Granger's – sorry Mrs Potter's wand. I have one of the Dragonheart strings that is in her wand spare so I thought we could create new wands with the same cores as each other. As you are Soul Bonded they would compliment you both perfectly. And don't worry about the Priori Incantatem, if you were to end up fighting He-who-must-not –be-named. The combination of the two cores is absolute and will change the nature of the wands permanently. The two wands would no longer be brother wands. Shall we begin?"

The two looked at the elder man's silver eyes. He was positively beaming with anticipation at the thought of creating two unique and powerful wands. Silently they both handed over there wands to the man who took them eagerly.

"Now adding an extra core to a wand is a very skilled task. Creating a dual cored wand is relatively easy as all you have to do is blend the two cores before adding them to the wood, but for an existing wand it's much harder. Only two wandmakers in the world have the skill to do so, and fortunately for you two I'm one of them. Now watch."

As they watched the old man took Hermione's wand first. He laid it on the bench and stripped the Phoenix's feather down to form a single long string. This he lay on top of her wand. Next he got some strange looking powder from an old container and lightly sprinkled it on the wand. Then he placed his hands on the wand and began to incant something in a language neither had heard before. After a long while the wand began to glow a silver colour and very soon Ollivander took away his hands. The feather had gone and in its place the wand appeared as before. The wandmaker repeated the procedure with Harry's wand substituting the feather with the Dragonheart string and very soon the pair were presented with their upgraded wands.

"Cast a lighting charm to see it it's taken" Ollivander asked. Hermione went first and quietly said "_Lumos_", a very bright light glowed from the top of her wand, illuminating the entire room and causing the three to cover their eyes at the sudden increase in light. Hermione was stunned but quickly said "_Nox_" and once more the room was back to the subdued lighting. All sets of eyes were blinking in the afterglow before Harry took his wand. This time all three of them screwed their eyes to minimise the shock and Harry whispered "_Lumos_". Once more the room was brightly illuminated before he whispered "_Nox_"

"Merlin's beard!" the wandmaker said. "I have never seen such power before; I would suggest getting Dumbledore to re-measure your Quota scores."

Harry paid for the alterations and also bought two wand holders for themselves as well as couple of unbound wands to replace the pair they broke. They left the shop and phased back to Hogwarts, this time directly into the headmaster's office, causing the elderly Headmaster to spit out his tea in surprise.

"Harry! You will give me a heart attack doing that!"

Harry smiled at the older man, "Well we did say that it would be rude the first time, we did mention that the second time we would be more direct."

"Well touché Harry. I take it things went well with Garrick?"

"Yes very well, he fitted dual cores to our wands and they work for us now. He suggested that you re-test out scores. Incidentally I bought you two new unbound wands to replace those we broke." He said handing over two slim wooden wands.

"Thank you Harry, that was very thoughtful of you. Come on then you two, let's get down to the Defence classroom" he replied taking the two offered replacement wands.

Soon they were back in front of the dummies, wands raised.

"Harry you can go first!"

Harry concentrated and shouted "STUPEFY!" The results were rather alarming, the dummy vaporised along with most of the stonework on the back wall. The noise was deafening. Harry was stood looking at his wand in amazement. Everyone else had their mouth hanging open. Albus checked the score and gulped.

"What was the score?" Harry asked in a faint voice.

"I'll tell you after Mrs Potters attempt." He replied in a strangled voice.

With a certain degree of trepidation, Hermione stood in front of her dummy. Once more she shouted the spell and once more the three were deafened by the results. Now there were two large holes in the walls and the remnants of another vaporised dummy floating in the air.

"S-S-S-Score?" she squeaked, eyes wide open.

The headmaster looked at the score and once more gulped in surprise. "Well you both scored the same, which in itself is amazing, I'm guessing its something to do with your Soul Bond, but you both scored 1335, the highest score ever recorded. It's even higher than Merlin himself, congratulations you two on becoming the most powerful magical people ever."

"Wow" was all Harry could say. Hermione took his hand and smiled at him. She pulled his head down and rather forcefully kissed him before turning to the headmaster.

"Can we keep this quite for the moment please? I'm guessing that if the news got out it would make life difficult."

"Off Course Mrs Potter"

"Is Madam Pomfrey in today, Harry's leg is hurting him a bit."

"I'm afraid she's away today, I will ask her to contact you when she's back this evening if that is okay?"

"Off course sir. If we may be excused?"

The headmaster nodded no one willing to talk too much about the startling results of the test. Without a sound the pair phased out of the room.

Albus took out his own wand and conjured another dummy, casting the stunning spell himself he looked at the result on the display. It read '765'. "Amazing" he muttered before repairing the walls of the classroom and leaving the room.


	8. Chapter 7 Vaults and Houses

**Chapter Seven – Vaults and Houses **

The following day Madam Pomfrey came to visit early in the morning. Both Mr and Mrs Granger had left for work, and the young couple were planning a lazy day, but they had arranged for the healer to come and look at Harry's leg before they went for a morning walk.

"Good morning Lord Potter-Black and how is your leg this morning?"

With a wry grin at the use of his title, Harry shook his head. "It hurts all the time now. It's getting harder to walk on it, and who told you about my title?"

"Sorry Harry, but it's in the newspaper this morning, front page."

"Damm, I was hoping to keep it quiet. What about Hermione and me?"

With a sigh Madam Pomfrey took out a copy of the _Prophet_ for the pair to read whilst she worked on his leg.

_HARRY POTTER NOW LORD POTTER-BLACK_

_By Rita Skeeter._

_It appears that Harry Potter, the boy who lived is now Lord Harry Potter-Black after inheriting both titles. The young Lord was present at the reading of his godfathers will, the late Sirius Black, who we have now learnt was innocent of all the crimes he was charged with. The Young Lord left Gringotts after the reading in the company of a young lady..._

_LORD POTTER-BLACK TAKES YOUNG WIFE_

_The new Lord Harry Potter-Black is married. Young girls across the nation will be weeping tonight as the news that our latest Lord has married his long time friend Miss Hermione Granger. According to our sources at the Ministry the marriage was registered a few days ago and now the young lady is Lady Hermione Potter-Black. Lady Hermione is muggle-born and according to numerous sources is the "brightest witch off our age". Born to Muggle parents..._

"Bugger! There goes our secret. At least they didn't mention the Soul Bond Harry."

"That information is classified Hermione, if they posted that you would be able to make life difficult for them. The other information is freely available to those who know where to look." Madam Pomfrey told them. "Now Harry, your leg; I have cast another healing charm on it. It appears that despite the pain it is healing well. The pain is caused by the clash between the magical healing and the Muggle surgery. The healing charm I have cast should dull the pain. By the time you come to school in September you should be free of pain and we can get rid of the walking stick."

"Thank you Madam Pomfrey. I can feel the charm working."

"Now take one of these potions at night, it will help with the swelling and also help to keep it pain free during the day. Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

"No thanks you've been a great help."Harry replied.

"Well I shall bid you good day. I must get back to Hogwarts. Argus tripped over a suit of armour that Peeves threw in front of him and broke his leg." And with that the Mediwitch left.

Harry took Hermione's hand and rested his head against her shoulder. "I'm sorry that the Prophet broke the news."

"I'm not Harry. I am proud to be your wife and I don't care who knows."

"I guess that means you're off the hook with shouting from the Astronomy tower then" Harry replied with a grin.

"Oh No, I still plan on doing that. I want everyone to know how much I love you, and not just that were married."

"You don't have to do that you know. I know you love me and that's all that matters."

Hermione kissed him and looked into his eyes. "A promise is a promise, and a Granger never breaks a promise."

"You're a Potter now wife!"

"Still a Granger as well and don't you forget it Potter!" she laughed at him before tickling him mercilessly. Due to his leg, Hermione won the tickle war hands down.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

An hour later the young couple were taking a slow walk around the area that Hermione grew up in. Harry was taking it slow with his cane, and Hermione was helping him by having her arm snaked around his waist. She was telling Harry about her younger life. Hermione had no real friends before she went to Hogwarts; other than her books. Most of the other kids either used her to help with homework or just bullied her. She had been very lonely during those years, until she met Harry and to a lesser extend Ron. Harry had been her first real friend, the only one to never really leave her ever. As she thought about it, the word 'love' didn't even begin to describe the feelings she had for him.

They arrived at a small park that she used to visit when she was younger, often playing on the swings by herself as no one else would play with her. As they walked towards the small boating lake she could see the playground in the distance. It seemed so much smaller than she remembered, currently hosting a number of laughing children and their parents. Arm in arm they walked around the lake, taking to slow due to Harry's leg. They came across some benches near the exit and they both sat and looked at the ducks as they swam on the lake. Harry could sense Hermione's melancholy mood as they sat and he could almost feel her sadness regarding her childhood. With a gentle kiss he decided to try to cheer her up.

"Do you want an ice-cream? There was a van around the corner and I fancy one?"

With a grateful smile she nodded, "I'll have a '99'* please."

"Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back." And he went to go get there ice-creams.

Hermione sat for a while, feeling happier that Harry was trying to cheer her up. As she sat she became aware of a group of people walking up to her.

"So if it isn't Granger - the Book-Worm. Haven't seen you for a while, you too good for us now?"

Hermione groaned; it was the Swain gang, they used to make her life a living hell at junior school. The gang normally consisted of four people. Craig Swain, the un-official leader, a large thick looking boy; Ian Angus, a thin ratty looking kid with a large cruel streak; Amanda Bennett, a blonde good looking girl but one that takes a delight in hurting others, and finally the worse one of the lot, Tracy Kirk. Tracy had pretended to be Hermione's friend when she first attended her junior school. They had spent a day together and Hermione had felt that it was the best day of her life; that was until Tracy's true colours were shown. She had asked Hermione to meet her at the gates before home time, but instead of walking home together she had thrust her homework at the distraught Hermione and demanded that she did it for her or else she would thump her. For three years Hermione had done Tracy's homework for her before a teacher got wise to the bullying. Tracy was expelled from the school and had to go to another, and this was where she met the Swain gang. Even thought they had all gone to a different school to Hermione, now that Tracy was with them, they still would walk the same way home and would delight in taunting and hitting Hermione. Often throwing her books into a large bed of nettles, more often than not Hermione would follow them.

"Hello Tracy, how are you?" Hermione answered determined not to be intimidated by the gang. She slowly raised her head and looked at her school days nemesis in the eye.

"FUCK Granger, what happened to your eyes? Why you got green contacts? Trying to attract a male bookworm?" the rest of the gang laughed at Tracy's comments.

"No Tracy, these are my true eye colour now, and I already have a boyfriend. What about you, still hanging around with Tweedle-DUM and Tweedle-Dee?"The two boys looked angry at the comments, but Tracy was not to be put off.

"You? A boyfriend? What do you do, look after his guide dog?"

Hermione was aware that some Soul Bond couples could communicate silently and was desperately trying to communicate to Harry. As she tried to send Harry her thoughts, she could see Harry walking up towards them. He had ditched the cane and was walking as confidently as he could; two '99's' were clutched in his hands. As he walked past the gang he sat down next to Hermione and passed her the ice-cream, pausing to kiss her passionately as he did.

"You okay Love, going to introduce me to your 'friends'?"

Hermione had never felt so relieved to have Harry next to her, feeling braver now she looked up at the gang. "Harry, these are the four that made my life a living hell at junior school. You four, this is Lord Harry Potter, and trust me you do not want to piss him off." At the news that the gang had made Hermione's earlier life so unhappy, Harry had stood and his eyes had taken on a dangerous look. Even though he was a little shorter than Craig, the look of pure menace in his eyes was un-mistakable and the two boys took a step back. They were both aware that Harry was the alpha male here, but the stupid Tracy wasn't going to be put off.

"A Lord, well pleeeease! You expect us to believe that..."

SLAP! Hermione had stood up and faced her demons. The slap was as hard as she could make it and it practically knocked Tracy off her feet. Handing her ice-cream to Harry, Hermione grabbed the girl by her blouse and hauled her back to her feet. "Listen to me you stupid Bitch. Harry is my husband and he is a Lord. Look into my eyes if you don't believe me, and trust me on this, I can make you wish you had never met me, and then some." For a brief moment, Hermione's eyes glowed a silver colour before returning to their usual green. Tracy gulped in fear at what she saw there. She suddenly knew that Hermione was capable of hurting her in ways she couldn't even imagine.

"No do me a favour Tracy and FUCK-OFF!" and Hermione pushed the girl away. The rest of the gang had already turned tail and ran, and they were quickly followed by Tracy. Hermione watched her run away and calmly took her ice-cream from Harry before sitting once more.

"Damm that felt good!" she smiled as she licked at her ice-cream. "You came back at just the right time; you gave me the confidence to stand up to her, Thank you."

"No problem Hermione, for some reason I just knew you needed me back here, and so I came as fast as I could."

"Why did you ditch the cane?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Well I sorta figured you were in trouble and you needed me to look strong, not that you needed me as it turned out, God Hermione that was amazing but I guessed the cane would give the wrong impression. As soon as I saw the gang around you I figured what was going on. Years of avoiding Dudley's little gang taught me never to look scared. But next time give me some warning, walking all the way back here without the cane hurt like buggery!"

Hermione proceeded to thank Harry by kissing him for all she was worth, before she took a splodge of ice cream and smeared it on his nose. That prompted an ice-cream war, before the couple walked home, pausing to retrieve Harry's cane from the ice-cream van, who had agreed to look after it for him. Hermione's earlier sadness now gone as she felt the depth of love she had for Harry grow even more.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

The couple arrived back at Hermione's house and made a light lunch. As they were sat finishing up, an owl arrived at the kitchen window. Hermione stood to let it in and they both recognised it as one of the school owls. The message was short and to the point.

_Dear Harry and Hermione Potter_

_As promised, the Headmaster and I will be available for some private training on Monday morning at 10am. Albus told me about you amazing magical quota score and we both feel that the training is essential if you are both to control your magic. If you are able to attend please let us know and 'Phase' to the headmasters room at the allotted time. Both he and I will meet you to help with the lessons._

_Yours Minerva McGonagall. Deputy Headmistress_

_Hogwarts School of Wizardry._

Harry looked at Hermione for a second. "We need training, you saw what we both to those dummies in the defence classroom. Power is nothing without control."

Hermione nodded and quickly wrote a reply saying that they would both be there on Monday morning. Attaching it to the waiting owl she opened the door and watched as the owl flew off.

"What are we going to do for the rest of the day?"

"Well, if you don't mind, I would like to pay a visit to our vault. We need to know what's in there."

"Okay, just let me wash up and get changed."

Half an hour later the pair was stood in the kitchen hand in hand. They both took out there Gringotts Vault keys and wished to be in there vault. With a flash they both vanished only to re-appear in a large dimly lit vaulted room. As they stood, the light level in the room increased as the vault recognised its true owners. Harry and Hermione gasped in awe as they took in the sight around them. Gold coins were piled high in large heaps, along with large gold bars bearing the Gringotts logo embossed into them. Vast tables stood housing all sorts of treasures ranging from whole suits of armour to the tiniest of ear-rings. There was a strange tinkling noise that the pair struggled to identify, until they noticed one of the piles of Galleons slowly getting larger as more of the coins magically appeared. Once one the piles got large enough, it glowed and a gold bar would appear, removing some of the coins. This was happening all the time as the amount of gold steadily grew.

"Great Merlin Harry! Look at it all" Hermione breathed. Hearing you were rich was one thing, physically seeing it all was another. They decided to explore, both instinctively being drawn to the tables of items; gold been rather boring once your seen a few coins of bars. As Harry and Hermione explored the tables, gasps and shouts could be heard. They split up to explore the riches in front of them. Harry finally came to a small table that held a small box and a note that read:-

_Engagement Ring of Lily Potter nee Evans._

Harry slowly opened the box to reveal a beautiful engagement ring. It was made of gold and silver in an entwined band with a diamond in the centre. On each side of the diamond were two stones of an indistinct colour. There was a small note inside the box.

_Magical Engagement ring:-_

_This ring will afford the wearer magical protection against most spells. The two stones will change when placed on the finger of the recipient if the couples love is pure. The stones will take on the appearance of the birth stones of the couple. No one can remove the ring except the wearer on in death._

With a smile Harry took the ring box and pocketed it. A plan was forming in his head and he knew that Hermione would love it. He was distracted by a gasp from Hermione who was stood a few feet away from him.

"Harry, stay where you are, you cannot see this."

"Why what is it?"

Hermione was looking at the most beautiful bridal gown she had ever seen. The label said that it had been worn by both Harry's mother and a long list of other Potter wives. The label also said that the material was made for the wedding gown of Rowena Ravenclaw herself and had been remade in the current dress. It also stated that the dress would magical re-size for whoever was to wear it.

"Harry, it's a bridal gown, but you cannot see it..please!"

"Er why?"

"Because, it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride's dress before the wedding."

"Mione, we are already married love"

"Yes but I still want a ceremony and I HAVE to wear this dress, it's beautiful."

Harry smiled at the thought; he could just about see a white dress but didn't want to upset Hermione by going any closer. "Ok, let's leave it here for the time been, and keep looking."

A little while later Hermione gave a squeal. "Books!" before running to a table containing many leather bound books. Harry laughed at her delight, causing her to turn and stick her tongue out at him.

"Hermione, I do love you, you know!"

"Ha! Look Harry at this one" she said pointing out an old dusty book at him. The title read – '_Wandless magic and taming your power – by Myrddin Emrys.'_

"Harry it's written by Merlin himself, this book must be very rare."

"Let's take it with us, it may be useful."

"Oh Can we? Thank you Harry."

"No Problem, just be certain to let me read it as well."

"You? You hate reading books."

"No I don't, I just got used to not reading them. When I was younger if I did better than Dudley I would get beaten, so I stopped trying. When I went to Hogwarts, well with Ron as my friend – you can imagine. I feel I need to start working harder, what with Voldemort always after me and all...and I want to make sure I can protect you. That reminds me I need to tell you about the prophesy."

"What prophesy? You mean THE prophesy, I thought it was destroyed." Hermione asked.

"It was but Dumbledore had a copy. It reads, ""_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..._""^

"Oh Harry, Oh not my Harry!" Hermione cried, throwing herself at her husband.

"Mione, it will be okay. I have you to help me now, although I'm scared that it will make you a target. I couldn't bear it if anything was to happen to you."

"Harry, don't you see. We will be together, we have to be. We share souls now, if you die, I die and vice-versa. We cannot exist without each other, not that I would want to live without you anyway."

Tears formed in Harrys eyes at this news. How could he do that to his beloved Hermione? Hermione saw the tears and knew instinctively what Harry was thinking.

"Don't you dare Harry James Potter? Let me ask you a question. If I was to die tomorrow from some non-magical cause, nothing to do with Voldemort, say a car accident, how would you feel?"

"I would want to die to be with you Mione, you know that."

"Well the same thing applies to me, you ARE my life. Without you I am nothing, so just shove that noble streak somewhere where the sun don't shine, cos we are together forever – alive or dead, ok?"

"Ok, boss!" Harry replied trying to improve the mood.

"Oi you" Hermione laughed as she swatted his arm. "Have we seen enough here?"

"I think so, let's go home and get ready for some house visits tomorrow."

They both phased away and returned to Hermione's house.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

The following day the two young lovers woke knowing that they were going to visit some of their properties today. They had spent the previous evening looking over the portfolio Harry had been given at Gringotts. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had helped and it appeared that the both owned a lot of shares in many businesses in the muggle and magical world. The news that they owned 20% of Microsoft and 15% of Apple was a surprise as the shares alone were worth millions. They were also amused to learn that they owned a controlling share in the Wizarding newspaper – The Daily Prophet, and filed the information away as 'potentially useful'. After an eventful evening the pair had retired to bed where they 'played' for a little while, nothing getting too serious before they fell asleep. As they descended the stairs to the kitchen they were met with relieved looks of both parents' faces.

"Oh give over you two, we didn't do anything...much, and even if we did we are married you know. Now let's have breakfast, we have a busy day ahead of us."

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

It was a nervous set of parents that gingerly took hold of the arms of their daughter and son-in-law. Having never travelled by port-key before they were unsure of what to expect. Harry had tried to re-assure them; saying that it was slightly better than been side-apparated as they had been at the hospital, but this didn't help to lessen their nerves.

"Everyone ready?" Harry asked. It had been decided that they would visit the flat first and then Potter Manor. Everyone nodded back at Harry and he took out the port-key. Both he and Hermione put their hands on it and Harry activated it. With the usual feeling the four of them vanished only to re-appear in a heap on the floor of the flat.

Once they had disentangled themselves they stood up to look around the flat, although to call it just a flat was pushing the boundaries of the word. It was enormous, with four large bedrooms, a large modern kitchen, and a big combatable lounge with muggle electronics such as a large TV and a video recorder. There was a large selection of videos on the shelf along with a big selection of CD's. The C.D's and videos were odd in that they were the most up-to date releases, and this confused Harry. Who was buying them if the flat had been empty for 15 years? As he contemplated the puzzle a new CD just appeared on the shelf magically. Harry laughed at the magic; it seemed that one of his parents must have liked muggle music and films. He was guessing that it was his mother. He was happy that they would be able to keep up-to date with such things.

Much to Hermione's disappointment, there was no library in the flat, a fact she said that she would resolve, much to Harry's amusement.

Mr. Granger was busy looking out of the window of the view of Muggle London. It was clear that they were a number of floors up and the view was stunning to say the least.

"This flat must be worth a fortune" he mused to himself. He looked at the two teens, who were busy looking through the video collection, in a whole new light. His daughter was a Lady and a rich one at that. He knew she was clever and powerful, but he began to wonder how powerful a witch she really was. It was a little humbling to think that his daughter could obliterate him with a wave of her wand...or even just her hand. He was also a little saddened that his only daughter, alive one anyway, was getting more into a world he could not enter.

After an hour or so of exploring the flat it was decided to move onto the manor. Once more the parents grabbed an arm each and Harry took out the correct port-key. This time they all arrived on their feet outside a large set of ornate gates. The gates were made of iron and had curly letter 'P's' built into them. No obvious lock or latch could be seen. Harry walked up to the gates and placed his hand on them. The gates slowly opened silently, Harry and Hermione took each other's hands and walked through the gates. The Granger's tried to follow, but they seemed to encounter an invisible barrier. They tried a few times before looking at Harry and Hermione is despair.

"Why cannot they get in Hermione?" Harry asked in confusion.

Hermione thought about it for a while before recollecting the conversation that had taken place at the bank.

_Flashback:-_

"_In the UK you have a large flat in Kensington, London, but the main family home is Potter Manor in the Devon area. No one is quite sure where the property is located as it is heavily warded and only family members can see the house without permission."_

_End flashback_

"Harry, it's because of the wards. No one other than family members can see the house without permission; I guess that also means that they cannot enter the grounds. You will have to give them permission."

Harry looked at Hermione before looking at his in-laws. "I Lord Harry Potter-Black give Roger and Jean Granger permission to see and enter Potter manor. So mote it be!" With a little flash, Jean and Roger found that they were able to enter the grounds, and the four of them began there long walk up the pathway to the house. They enjoyed the walk as it took them through the grounds of the manor. There were small forested areas as well as large open grasslands with deer grazing on them. As they came around a corner the manor lay before them and they all stopped in awe. The house was large, well huge in fact. It consisted of a three story house with a large main wing with two smaller wings at either end. There was a large entrance way that exited onto a large stone covered driveway. In front of the house were beautiful formal gardens and as they looked they could see a small number of House Elves exiting the house and lining up outside for inspection. Hermione's face took on an unfriendly look as she saw all the House Elves.

"Now don't start 'Mione, these are our House elves after all, so I am sure that they are all well looked after."

"Harry I do not like the idea of owning House Elves, well looked after or not. However I have spoken to Dobby on a number of occasions and I know now that freeing House Elves does not ultimately help them, so I am not going to do anything silly. I just don't have to like it however."

With a smile the four of them made there way to the house where they were greeted by one of the House Elves.

"Good day Lord and Lady Potter, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. I am Baxter; head House Elf of the House of Potter. We have been looking forward to the day that you returned to your home, and we were excited to hear that you were bringing your wife and soul mate. Congratulations Lord Potter on your marriage sir."

"Thank you Baxter, it's lovely to meet you. Before we go any further can you please call me Harry, and that means all of you." Harry replied looking at the assembled House Elves.

"Off Course Lord...Harry..sir!" May I show you around your home?"

"Off course, but will you introduce me to the others first. We are all friends here and no one is above another."

There were five House Elves in total. Other than Baxter, there was Ivy who was Hermione's maid, Hermione scowled at this news but tried to remain polite; Mitzi who did most of the cooking; Fane who was the Gardener and finally little Eve who was the house keeper. Eve was Baxter's and Ivy's daughter as was very excited to meet them all. In some ways she reminded Harry of Dobby as she stood bouncing on her heels. All of the Elves were wearing smart little uniforms with an embossed coat of arms on the breast. This was in the shape of a Phoenix stood atop of a Griffin with its wings unfurled, along with an ornate letter 'P' in the center.

Once the introductions were over, Baxter led the four of them through the large main doors and into the entrance hall. Black and white marble flooring covered the large room with two stone fire places at either side of the room. As it was warm outside neither were lit, but both had a large pile of logs next to them, allowing the group to imagine how warm and cozy they would be in the colder months. Dark oak paneling covered the walls and the ceiling was very high with beautiful frescoes painted on them. Unlike conventional paintings these were the Wizarding kind and were moving, ornate birds and winged cherubs were flying around a scene that depicted a large stag and doe, both nuzzling each other in a woodland scene. A couple of suits or armor were stood against the back wall and there were numerous paintings around and about. The family gawped at the opulence of the room. The surprises didn't end there as they were taken on a brisk tour of the property. As well as a very large formal lounge there was a smaller snug complete with comfy arm chairs and sofas. As well as a formal dining room complete with long polished wooden table, there was a much smaller family dining room. This seemed to more well used, and was a much less imposing room.

The kitchen was large and airy but Mitzi quickly shooed them out saying that the kitchen was her domain. One of the biggest surprises was the informal lounge which was an exact replica of the Griffindor common room, complete with view of the Black lake and grounds of Hogwarts.

Harry had to practically drag Hermione out of the large library that would have put the one at Hogwarts to shame. Hermione was almost drooling at the sight, but Harry promised her that they would return later. Also on the ground floor was a large games room, complete with full ten pin bowling alley as well as an indoor heated swimming pool. One whole wing of the house contained a large ballroom that Hermione remarked would be good for their wedding ceremony.

The second floor contained the master bedroom and large en-suite bathroom. The bed was so large that they could fit all four of them laying down as still have room for a few others. Harry giggled that Hermione would need to wear a little bell around her neck so he could find her in the large bed. The en-suite had a large marble bath complete with a massive walk-in shower that both Harry and Hermione eyed with anticipation, much to the worry of Roger, causing Hermione to tease her father. Next to the main bedroom were two large guest suites both nearly as big as the master suite, as well as numerous smaller guest rooms. The two lovers were interested to see a fully kitted out nursery much to the embarrassment of the elder couple. The top floor housed a large dueling area as well as a fully stocked potion room. There was a fully kitted out gym as well as a large study area complete with computers.

The cellars contained the usual things that cellars contained but Roger was very interested in the large wine cellar that he found. According to him some of the bottles were very rare. There was also a whisky room, containing large barrels of 15 years old whisky.

There was a quick tour of the grounds where they found tennis courts, as well as a large stable block complete with horses. As well as a large outside green house there was an Olympic size outdoor swimming pool, and a big patio area complete with a huge barbecue. Of greater interest to Harry and Roger was a large car garage. This was complete with a large selection of vintage cars. Roger knew more about these things than Harry and was pointing out some of the makes and models of the cars.

"Harry, that's an original Jaguar 'E' type sports car, they are quite rare now. Over there is an Aston Martin DB5, it's the type they used in the James Bond film, Goldfinger."

Harry gave Roger a blank look.

"Dad, don't forget Harry hasn't seen many muggle films. We will have to show him that one."

As well as the two cars that Roger had pointed out there was a 1960's Ferrari as well as few others that Roger wasn't sure about. There was also a new looking BMW M535i, as well as a large Range Rover.

Roger promised the help Harry learn to drive, as there was plenty of roads around the manor. He would have to still pass his muggle driving test when he got to seventeen if he wished to drive any further afield. Mrs. Granger secretly guessed that her husband's offer came not only from a desire to help his new son-in-law, but to also get an opportunity to drive the beautiful sports cars.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

The all found themselves much later sat in the snug with large cups of tea, to discuss the amazing house they found themselves in. Everyone agreed that despite the house been large, it felt very warm and friendly. Both Harry and Hermione had immediately felt at home in the house, as if the house was pleased to see them.

"I love it here Harry, I feel like I have come home." Hermione smiled at him, gently kissing his neck as she snuggled up to him.

"I've never had a real home before, apart from Hogwarts, but this feels RIGHT. I could be very happy here, living with you and raising a family."

Hermione's eyebrows rose at his comments. "Kids, you sure?"

"Not yet love, we are far too young but one day yeah."

"One day...that would be nice Harry."

Mr. and Mrs. Granger smiled at the two young people sat with them. They were both impressed with the depth of love Harry had for their daughter, as well as the maturity he was showing regarding their new relationship.

The day ended with a small meal in the informal dining room before the four of them returned to the Granger's house. This time Harry and Hermione 'phased' the elder couple and they both agreed that it was a much nicer form of travel. As they left Harry assured Baxter that would return as soon as they could to discuss future living arrangements.

They quickly retired to bed and after a brief but passionate kiss they were soon asleep, dreaming about the beautiful house they now owned.

**A/N The modern cars are correct for the time-period. I selected models that would have been around in 1981 as this would of been the last year that Harry's parents would of have chance to buy the cars.**

*** A '99' is an English ice-cream; it is a cornet of ice-cream with a chocolate flake in it. The reasons why it's called a '99' seem to be lost in the depths of history.**

**^ Taken directly from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, page 741 by JK Rowling. All material and rights belong to her.**

**Please review**


	9. Chapter 8  Training and Rings

**A/N Thanks for all the nice comments, here is chapter 8 - please be aware, there be lemons ahead!**

**Please review.**

**Chapter Eight – Training and Rings**

Sunday passed in the way of some Sundays with Harry and Hermione discovering the joys of a lie-in. Both awoke quite early but elected to cuddle and snooze away the morning in bed. Neither one was normally a lazy person but the feeling of just lying with the one you love and holding them made them both feel very decadent. Nothing more than some very passionate kissing occurred, as both felt slightly self-conscious about Hermione's parents been so close. It was about eleven when they both decided that getting up was a good idea, mainly brought on by hunger.

As they arrived in the kitchen they were met with amused smiled from Jean and Roger.

"Afternoon you two finally made it I see. Well you missed breakfast, and you're a bit early for lunch so I would suggest brunch." Jean teased.

"MORNING mum, and it's only eleven. It's Sunday and we fancied a lie-in, and the sex was magnificent!"

There was a sharp intake of breath from both parents until they saw Hermione's delighted grin at her joke.

"Why you little...Hermione Jean Granger, how dare you tease your mother so."

"Potter, mum"

"What?"

"Its Hermione Jean Potter and you deserved it." She replied with a laugh.

Jean glared at her daughter in mock annoyance before laughing. "Coffee?"

"Yes please"

"Harry?"

"Yes please Jean. Do you have any bacon? I'll make us a couple of bacon sarnis."

"Sure it's in the fridge. Harry? Could you make us a couple whilst you're at it please? Sorry to disappoint you but we only just beat you two down here."

"MUM!" Hermione shrieked and chased her mother around the kitchen, much to the amusement of the two men.

Harry made a load of bacon sandwiches for all concerned and everyone retired to the conservatory to chat.

"Hermione, are you and Harry going to live at the manor?" Roger asked.

"Well we would like to, obviously we still have to go to school, but it would be nice. I'm just not sure if we should."

"What do you mean pumpkin?"

"Well what about you two? I know I'm married and Soul Bonded but I am still only 16, ok nearly seventeen, but still young nonetheless."

"Hermione, you are a married young woman, and as such you may live where you wish. We only wish you to be happy." Jean replied.

"I know mum, but I don't want to upset things for you two." Hermione replied obviously confused about what to do.

Harry spoke up to try to smooth things over. "Well what about a compromise. We both saw how much you two enjoyed your time at the manor yesterday. How about during the summer and Christmas you come and stay with us until we are a bit older. We can set up a permanent floo between the manor and your practice so you can get to work."

"Oh Harry, that's a brilliant idea, could you mum?"

Roger looked over at his wife, he could tell that she liked the idea, but she had some reservations. Despite their teasing of the young couple they really didn't want to get in the way of the burgeoning relationship. Jean looked back at her daughter and sighed.

"Hermione, we would be in the way. You two are young and in love, you don't want your parents living with you, especially at this stage of your... relationship."

Hermione and Harry blushed at the not so veiled innuendo, but Hermione rallied well. "Mum, the house is so big that Harry and I could be screaming out in passion in one wing and you two would not hear a thing. You need a compass to find your way around the grounds, and well... it would be nice to share the manor with you for a while."

Harry had blushed even more at Hermione's comment about the shouting bit, but agreed with everything else she had said. "Jean - Roger, I've never had a proper family before, and I ...we would love it for you to come and stay at the manor. I need to learn what it is to have a family...before we have our own." He said the last bit in a whisper, but Hermione heard him and looked at him with tear stained eyes.

"Harry, we will be together forever, and I will always love you." She replied as she took him in her arms.

Jean brushed a tear from her eye as she watched the couple, she was then very surprised when the couple began to glow with a deep golden light, that grew stronger and stronger in intensity until she had to turn away from the pair, as they held each other.

"Er you two, your glowing again." She spluttered.

Harry and Hermione were not aware of the light emanating from them, but a warm sense of love had filled them both. Suddenly as if a door opened in their heads, they both became aware of each other's emotions and memories. Both were so temporally overwhelmed by the rush of emotions and memories that they both passed out briefly. They awoke a few seconds later still in each other's arms, but now laying on the floor with two people looking at them with concern etched on their faces.

"What happened? Do you need us to get a Doctor?" Roger asked.

Slowly the pair sat up, and tried to sit on the sofa, but as soon as Harry let go of Hermione the separation pain kicked in with a vengeance.

"OW!" they both cried and Harry took hold of Hermione once more and pain vanished.

"Oh no, not again!" Hermione cried.

"Could someone please tell us what's going on?"

"Mum, it seems that our Bond has progressed again. We can now feel each other's emotions and we also got a load of memories from each other. It was quite...intense, that's why we passed out. The problem is that we seem to of got our inability to let go of each other back."

"Oh great, how long will it last this time?" Jean asked.

"No idea, hopefully not as long as last time." Hermione replied.

"Hermione it's really odd been able to feel your emotions. At the moment, you are a little scared but mainly happy that our bond has progressed. It's odd, but nice at the same time."

"I wonder if we can hear each other's thoughts like Professor Dumbledore said we might be able to." She mused.

Hermione concentrated on Harry and thought, _#Harry, can you hear me? Harry?#_

Harry could hear a slight buzzing, like bees in his head but nothing more than that. "Sorry, I could hear a buzzing but nothing more. I guess the bond isn't fully formed yet."

Hermione nodded, she had her own thoughts about what would be required to fully form the bond, but she wasn't going to mention it here, with her parents sat in front of her. Harry must have caught some of her emotions as he suddenly started to blush furiously.

Hermione tried to hide her giggle by putting her hand over her mouth, but this action inadvertently caused her to break the contact she had with Harry, and they both winced in pain. However both realised that the pain was less than before, and seemed to fade quicker than before as they took each other's hands.

"Let's try that again Harry." And they both released their hands. The pain flared up for a second before settling down to a dull ache. After ten minutes the ache became a wearing so they took each other's hands once more.

"Well it's liveable with, and it seems less than the last time. Hopefully by tomorrow we will be able to separate. Looks like today will be a day of TV and lounging around then."

The rest of the day was spent watching videos as well as a nice walk around the park. There were no run-ins with the Swain gang this time and Harry was able to let go of Hermione long enough for her to have a go on the swings. Hermione enjoyed the feeling of just been with her husband, no magic, no Voldemort or Deatheaters, just her and him for an afternoon.

The evening meal was a little different for a Sunday. Due to the couples need for contact, it was decided to order in pizza as this could be eaten by hand. Knives and forks had been dismissed as a little difficult for two people who couldn't let go of each other. Harry had never had pizza before and Roger decided to order him one with chillies of it. Everyone laughed at the colour Harry's face went as he bit into the spicy vegetable. After the initial shock, Harry announced that he quite liked the flavour, so Roger's joke fell a little flat. However at the end of the evening, Hermione's mood turned a little sad. They both went upstairs to their room as it was getting late. As they sat on their bed, hand in hand, Harry asked her what the problem was.

"It's silly Harry."

"Tell me 'Mione, we have no secrets. I can tell something's bothering you."

"Harry, I want a long hot bath, but because we cannot let go at the moment, I can't. I don't think mum and dad would let us share, even if our bath was big enough."

Harry looked at her sad face, he had realised from there increasing bond that Hermione loved to bathe. She was most un-girly in many things, but her one vice was she loved to soak in a hot bath brimming with bubbles. She could spend hours in there just lying back with her eyes closed. Although they had only been together for just over a week, Harry had spent many an hour waiting for her to come out of the bathroom, to let him in. She often came out, almost glowing from the heat of the water and nearly always had a dreamy expression on her face. Like most men, Harry thought bathing was a means to get clean. He got in, got washed and got out again. As he sat and thought about his wife's dilemma, a sudden idea popped into his head.

"Mione, I have an idea, but it will involve us doing something slightly naughty."

Hermione looked at him with a slight smile, for some reason her heart had taken a leap when he mentioned doing something naughty. With a raised eyebrow she allowed him to continue.

"Well, we could 'phase' to the manor and use the bath there. Its plenty big enough and we er..could share a bath...if you want to that is." He rushed the last bit, blushing with embarrassment.

Wide eyed Hermione considered the proposal. They would be 'phasing' to the manor without her parents knowledge, and bathing together...naked! Could she do that? The more she thought about, the more she liked the idea. It was there house after all, and they were married. With a slow nod she looked at Harry.

"I think I would like that Harry" she said almost shyly.

Harry let out the breath he hadn't even realised he had been holding in. He was scared that she would be mad at him for his suggestion. "You sure?" he asked, already aware what her answer would be due to his ability to sense her emotion.

"Yeah Harry, I'm sure."

With a nod, they both 'phased' to the manor and arrived in their new bedroom. The candles lit themselves as soon as they arrived and the room immediately became warm and inviting.

With a 'pop' Baxter and Ivy appeared.

"Welcome Lord ...sorry Harry and Hermione. Welcome back to your home."

Ivy looked at the two with a smile on her face. "I have drawn a bath for you both, and placed fresh linen on the bed. Mitzi has left some food for you as well as some bottles of Butterbeer for you. We hope you have a pleasant evening and if we can be off service please call."

"Harry, just to let you know these rooms have permanent silencing charms on them, so you will have to call us mentally as well, just so you know we would not be able to hear any call you make." Baxter said with a knowing smile on his face. With a pop the pair left, leaving a pair of blushing teens.

"Well...er that was embarrassing. Been given permission from a House Elf as well as all the innuendo. Is it just me or those two different from the other House Elf's we know." Harry asked.

"They do seem more comfortable with us than the others, and less intimidated."

"Anyway, it would be a shame to let the bath go cold. Would you do me the honour of sharing a bath with me Mrs Potter?"

"I would be honoured Mr Potter." She let him lead her to the en-suite bathroom. They both stopped dead at the doorway. The bathroom was lit by hundreds of candles, all dancing and flickering in the room. This cast ever moving shadows around the room, making the bathroom seem alive. The bath was full with bubbly water, steam rising from the surface.

"It's beautiful Harry." Hermione whispered.

"And so are you my love." Harry replied

Hermione made a face, "That was a corny line Harry, are you trying to get me out of my clothes?"

"Always luv." He replied cheekily.

With a smile, Hermione began to disrobe, it was complicated by the fact that they needed to keep hold of each other, but soon they were both stood naked in front of each other. Despite there earlier dalliances, this was the first time that they had really stood in front of each other naked and both were exploring the other with their eyes.

"Hermione, you're beautiful!" Harry exclaimed as he looked at her naked body. She was slim, but still curvy. Her toned stomach and legs, testament to all the book carrying she did. Her breasts were slightly larger than average, with pert nipples standing proud. Her sex was covered with a slight amount of hair; it was obvious that she shaved most of it off, just leaving a small covering. Her green eyes sparkled in the candle light as she allowed him to gaze on her. She felt totally at ease as she also gazed upon her lovers body. Despite the bruising from his recent run in Vernon, he was beautiful in her eyes. A little thin from the years of malnutrition, but still there was evidence of muscles most likely from the years of playing Quidditch. His frame could be best described as wiry-strong. A small amount of downy hair covered his chest and lower torso. She allowed herself to finally gaze down at his manhood and she liked what she saw.

"Harry, I still want to wait before 'it', I was thinking my birthday if you can wait that long?"

"Mione, I can wait as long as you need me to, I will never force you into anything you are not ready for."

With a smile, she pulled him towards her and they got into the bath together. The water was warm and inviting. Harry sat down and Hermione sat in front of him. Harry wrapped his arms around her and she laid back into his chest, with a look of dreamy contentment. Harry could help but notice the way her breasts floated and bobbed up and down in the water.

"You can hold them in you want Harry." Hermione muttered almost sleepily

Tentatively, Harry moved his hands until they were cupping his wife's breasts, They felt so warm and soft in his hands, her nipples slightly raised as she became a little aroused, however it was more a loving arousal than a sexual one as they both lay in the warm water. Harry felt all the cares and worries fade away as the water performed its magic.

Hermione was in heaven, she was in a warm bath with her husband holding her. She had never felt as safe as she felt at that moment, with Harry holding her breasts tight. Even though she could tell he was very relaxed, she could still feel his arousal pressing against her back and she didn't feel she could be any happier. This was an excellent idea of Harry's, and she had forgotten to feel even guilty about not been at home.

After an hour or so in the bath, during which time Harry washed Hermione all over; before she returned the favour, they decided to get out and dry off. The water in the bath, which had remained at a constant temperature whilst they were in it, magically vanished. They returned to the main room hand in hand and naked to find the bed readied for them. Shrugging, they both climbed in and Hermione spooned up to Harry.

"Harry, I love you, you know?"

"I love you too 'Mione"

As they lay there Hermione could feel the beginnings of sleep come over her.

"You will make sure we get back home before mum and dad wake up wont you?"

"Mmmhuh, now go to sleep."

"Night Harry" she mumbled.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

Sometime during the night, the House elves transported the sleeping pair back to their bed in Hermione's parent's house. The sleeping pair didn't even murmur as they were moved, still tightly holding each other. As they maintained skin to skin contact the bond did its work as they slept, tightening the strength and the ties between them. Only the final stage was left and this wouldn't complete until they consummated the bond. Once this happened, nothing in heaven or Earth would be capable of separating them, and they would be closer than any other couple in history.

Hermione woke feeling more refreshed than she had done in weeks. As she opened her two things struck her. First she was back in her old bedroom, and second was the position of a certain part of her husband's anatomy. During the night it seems they must have shuffled about because due his morning wood, she could feel the shaft of his cock rubbing very nicely against her entrance. As she laid there she could feel herself becoming very aroused by this turn of events. As she moved slightly she could feel herself becoming more wet due his proximity. It would be so easy just to wiggle a little and let it slide inside her. She was sorely tempted but she remembered her idea to give herself to Harry on her birthday. She somewhat disappointedly decided to allow herself just to feel him rubbing against her entrance as she moved slightly.

Hermione slowly became aware that Harry was awake and she could feel both his arousal increase and his amusement as he felt her conflicted emotions.

"Having fun 'Mione?"

"Mmmmm" Hermione mumbled as she continued to grind against his cock. Harry decided to help her out a little and with a little flip she was laid on her back with his mouth pressed against hers. As he kissed her, his hands wandered to her breasts. He could feel her nipples already rock hard due to her earlier ministrations. With a smile Harry left her mouth and slowly moved down her body, kissing as he went. He paused at her breasts and teased and kissed her mounds for a while, before continuing south. He swirled his tongue around her belly button, causing her to giggle, before moving to her thighs.

"Harry, what are you doing? Oh that's nice.." she moaned as he kissed the inside of her upper legs as she parted her legs slightly for him. "Where are going now...Oh Merlin! Harrrrry, sweet lord"

Harry had finally arrived at his final destination and was gently swirling his tongue around her clitoris, occasionally dipping it deeper into her depths. As far as he was concerned she tasted divine, he could do this all day.

Hermione was having trouble maintaining any semblance of thought, the waves of pleasure washing over her as Harry played her with his tongue. This was a totally new sensation for her and she could feel herself getting lost in the passion. She was aware she was making small incoherent noises as she reached down to grab hold of his hair. As he continued she could feel herself getting closer and closer to her climax.

"Harry!, oh Merlin Harry I'm going to cuuuuum!" She cried out in a strangled voice. All of a sudden she heard someone scream, and a small but still active part of her brain was surprised when she realised it was her voice that was screaming in total ecstasy. Harry didn't stop after her first climax but kept on caressing her most intimate part with his tongue. When he inserted a few fingers she lost it and climaxed a second time. Still he continued to play her, until after the fifth orgasm, she begged him to stop. Her body was twitching uncontrollably, small little spasms of her legs and torso. Her breathing was ragged and she was covered in a film of sweat. After a full five minutes, where Harry just laid on her stomach she finally managed to put a coherent sentence together.

"Harry, that was totally amazing. I have never felt like that in my entire life, thank you." Not sure of what was expected of her she asked "Do you want me to return the favour?"

"Only if you want to love, it's up to you"

"I'm not that comfortable about doing...you know just yet. Come up here and let me play with you."

Harry moved up and kissed her deeply. She was surprised to taste herself on him, and was even more surprised that her arousal was growing more. She took hold of his cock and began to move her hand up and down, all the while still kissing him. Very soon she could feel him get close and with a shout he climaxed all over her hands and his belly. He flopped back onto the pillow with a smile on his face.

"I love you!" he grinned. He was shocked by what she did next. She took her still covered finger and slowly brought it up to her face. She sniffed gently at it and very tentatively brought it to her tongue. She took a small taste and looked thoughtful.

"Well I wouldn't put it on my toast but it's quite nice." She licked the rest of her fingers and smiled at his astonished look.

"Next time, well who knows" she promised. "Hell, what time is it?"

Harry looked at the bedside clock, it read 08:35.

"Shit, we have to meet Professor Dumbledore at ten. We better get ready."

They rushed around to get clean and dressed before they realised that they weren't touching each other.

"Hey, we can separate. That was quick" Harry said.

"It could be the prolonged period of skin contact we had that speed the process along. We can ask about it if we dare."

"Yes, well let's leave out certain aspects shall we?"

As they descended downstairs they noticed it was very quiet. On the kitchen table was a note that read

"_Hi you two_

_We've gone to work. We will see you this evening. Hope you have a good day._

_Love Mum and Dad, (Roger and Jean)_

_._

_._

_._

_PS Next time use a silencing spell Hermione, we didn't know you had it in you._

"OH GOD! How embarrassing!" Hermione was rapidly becoming a scarlet colour as the blush spread across her face. She held her face in her hands in shame. She eventually looked up to see her husband smiling at her.

"It's okay 'Mione, we are married and bonded after all. We just forgot..again and I'm sure that your parents understand."

"How can I face them after they heard...that?"

"Mione, have you never heard your parents doing...you know?"

"Well, yes, but that's different, there marrie...oh"

"See, it's no different. We are legally adults, so let's behave like adults. Now let's get some breakfast and get over the Hogwarts."

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

At ten o'clock Harry and Hermione soundlessly 'phased' into the Headmasters office, causing both Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall to jump in surprise.

"How do they do that Albus?"

"No idea Minerva, but it still makes me jump. Good morning Mr and Mrs Potter, are you enjoying your holidays?"

"Yes Sir, we have had an interesting few days." Harry replied, "It seems that our bond has progressed another step, we can now feel each other's emotions."

"That's very good Mr Potter, what about each other's thoughts?"

"No not yet, we were wondering about that bit sir?"

"Well I guess that will come when the bond is fully formed. I won't embarrass either of you, but there would be only one time when that would happen."

Harry looked puzzled but then noticed Hermione begin to blush. His thoughts quickly caught up with hers.

"Oh, you mean...Oh Merlin." He said blushing furiously.

Professor McGonagall let out a little laugh as she watched her two Griffindor's. "Come now Albus, stop teasing the two of them. They will take things at their own pace."

The Headmaster looked at the two teens with a warm smile on his face, finally taking pity on them he announced.

"Come now; let's get to the defence class room where we can examine the scale of the problem."

"Problem sir, what problem? We have got new wands and they work fine now." Hermione asked in a puzzled voice, finally overcoming her earlier embarrassment.

With a twinkle, Professor Dumbledore smiled and said he would explain once they got to the classroom. The four of them trooped down to the defence classroom in near silence, Harry holding Hermione's hand as they walked. Once they got to the classroom Hermione asked the question again.

"Sir, Can you tell me what problem there is?"

"Certainly Mrs Potter, but before I do can you tell me the first charm most first years learn first?"

"Sir, it's the levitation spell." Hermione replied, obviously puzzled by this line of question.

The Headmaster took out from one of his pockets a small white feather which he placed on the desk. "If you could levitate the feather for me Mrs Potter."

With a small shrug, Hermione took out her new wand and pointed it at the feather. "Wingardium Leviosa" she said in a strong voice. The results were fairly spectacular. Like a rocket the feather leapt from the desk and shot towards the ceiling so fast and with so much force that it crashed through the ceiling and carried on towards the top of the castle. Indeed if anyone had been flying over the castle they would have seen the feather carry on in it's upwards journey for many miles before the structure of the feather dissolved and it exploded.

Hermione looked at her wand and then at the ceiling in shock. She could feel Harry's similar emotion.

"What? Why?...Sorry about the ceiling Sir. I'm not sure what happened."

With a wave of his hand, the ceiling and indeed the castle roof magically repaired itself. "Don't worry about the ceiling, but do you now see the extent of the problem? You two are the most powerful magical people ever to have lived, but you are also still students. Without knowledge, the power is useless. You will both need to learn how to harness your power and not to go overboard. Just a simple levitation spell, but with your power it becomes a deadly weapon."

They spent the next few hours casting spells, all the while both Professors getting them to regulate their enormous power they possessed. As they approached lunch both Harry and Hermione were getting much better at controlling the release of their magic. They both found that once they got the hang of it with the levitation spell, they could apply the same knowledge to all there spells.

After a pleasant lunch they returned to the Headmaster room.

"You will both need to practice, but be careful. A moment's distraction and you could cause some serious damage to either property or person. I will speak to all the teachers and when you both return in September we will alter your schedules to allow extra practice. You will both have to be careful to disguise your power, as knowledge of this could be harmful in the wrong hands."

The deputy Headmistress added, "If you would both like, I can help train you both to become Animagus's. Normally we would not offer this you students your age, as it can take years of practice, but with your power I feel we can do this in a very short space of time."

Both Harry and Hermione agreed to this, the opportunity for Harry in particular to achieve this was something that he felt very strongly about. He felt that it would bring him a little closer to the memory of his father, and Hermione picked up on this and took his hand in support.

"I'm sure you will be a beautiful animal Harry." Hermione said kindly

"As will you love."

Professor McGonagall watched the pair with a small smile on her face. She wasn't supposed to have favourites but she was hard pressed not to find herself enamoured by the two teens. Their commitment to each other was palpable.

"Well, the first stage is to empty your mind to find your centre. Only when you can do this will you be able to visualise your inner animal. After today, I want you both to find an hour every day to meditate and practice finding your centre. Once you can visualise your animal it is important not to go any further until you speak to me. The next stage is the most critical. You have to visualise yourself becoming the animal and will yourself to make the change become real." She handed them both a thin text book that took them through the process. With a smile she also handed them a thick letter each.

"These are a little ahead of time, but we pushed your OWL results through. I hope you find them to your satisfaction."

Hermione paled as soon as she saw the letters. Her hands started to shake with fear as she looked at the letter. She found herself unable to move. Harry took hold of her hand causing her to jump at his touch

"H-h-h-harry, I can't do this. Will you open it for me please?"

With a loving smile, Harry gently took her letter and broke the seal. He took out the thick Parchment and opened the letter, and started to read out loud for her.

"_**Ordinary Wizarding Level results for Lady Hermione Jean Potter-Black nee Granger**_

_**OWL Score Grades:-**_

_**Passing Grades**_

_O – Outstanding_

_E- Exceeds Expectation_

_A- Acceptable_

_**Failing Grades**_

_P- Poor_

_D- Dreadful_

_T- Troll_

_Lady Hermione Potter-Black achieved the following grades:-_

_Ancient Runes - Outstanding +_

_Arithmancy - Outstanding +_

_ Astronomy – Outstanding_

_ Care of Magical Creatures - Outstanding _

_Charms – Outstanding+_

_ Defense Against the Dark Arts - Outstanding_

_ Divination - Dropped Out _

_Herbology - Outstanding _

_History of Magic - Outstanding _

_Muggle Studies – Not Completed - Grade E Awarded due to course work._

_Potions - Outstanding _

_Transfiguration - Outstanding_

_ (Outstanding + Grade awarded due to exceptional results.)_

_Total 11 OWLS awarded. "_

"Hermione you did brilliantly!" Harry shouted, then looking over at his wife. He was startled to see tears falling down her face as she contemplated her results.

"I did it!" she whispered to herself, before saying louder, "I DID IT HARRY!, Sweet Merlin I did it", she said the last bit in a muffled voice as Harry enveloped her in a massive hug.

"I knew you would do it love. You are amazing."

"Thanks you Harry…How did you do?"

Harry shrugged and opened the letter addressed to him. "Mione, I'm already a winner because I'm with you, but here goes nothing."

"_**Ordinary Wizarding Level results for Lord Harry James Potter-Black **_

_**OWL Score Grades:-**_

_**Passing Grades**_

_O – Outstanding_

_E- Exceeds Expectation_

_A- Acceptable_

_**Failing Grades**_

_P- Poor_

_D- Dreadful_

_T- Troll_

_Lord Harry Potter-Black achieved the following grades:-_

_Astronomy: E__  
>Care of Magical Creatures: E<br>Charms: O  
>Defense Against the Dark Arts: O++<br>Divination: P  
>Herbology: E<br>History of Magic: A  
>Potions: E<br>Transfiguration: O_

_(Outstanding ++ Grade awarded due to exceptional results, highest mark achieved.)_

_Total 8 OWLS awarded. "_

"Harry, that's really good, 8 OWL's is a really good result."

"I bet I could do better now that I'm with you love, I aim to much better on my NEWTS"

"What NEWTS do you plant on sitting Mr Potter?" the headmistress asked.

"Well ma'am, I will sit my Charms, Defence, and Transfiguration ones, I hoped to sit Herbology and Potions but I'm not sure if I will be allowed to with only getting an 'E'."

"Harry, I know for certain that Madam Sprout will allow you to sit with an 'E'. Headmaster what do you think about Potions?"

The headmaster looked at Harry with an amused smile. "Harry, please keep this to yourself, but we will be getting a new potions master this year. Professor Snape has requested a year's sabbatical to work on a private project for the Order. I am certain that the new potions master will allow you to take the class, considering your new-found power."

Harry looked pleased that he would be allowed to take the class, and that the worst teacher in the school would not be around for the year. "May I ask who will be taking the class sir?"

"Off course you may ask, my boy. I however choose to keep that information to myself; I would not wish you to miss the surprise at the start of the year. How about you Mrs Potter?"

"Sir, I am planning on sitting Charms, Transfiguration, Defence, Arithmancy, Potions, Herbology and Study of Ancient Runes, sir. I did want to do Muggle studies but you will only allow me to sit seven classes sir." She replied with a note of disappointment in her voice.

Harry couldn't help but to laugh at her obvious disappointment, earning him a thump on his shoulder immediately followed by a kiss and a laugh as well.

The rest of the afternoon was spent very much like the morning, with the two teachers putting the Potter's through their paces. By the end of the afternoon, two very tired but happy teens were walking through the empty corridors. They had quickly found that with practice they could now cast spells normally, as well as incredibly powerfully. Both the teachers were surprised with the speed that the couple had learnt to control their incredible power, and had dismissed the pair from further classes until after the holidays.

As they walked through the empty and quite castle, Harry had a sudden idea. Taking Hermione by the hand he led her through the great doors and out of the castle. It was a lovely evening as they walked towards the Black lake. Hermione was wondering where he was leading them until she spotted her tree. This was the spot she often went to if she needed to think or just to sit back and relax. She was often joined by Harry and occasionally Ron and she absently remembered that her favourite photograph of the three of them had been taken under the tree. She looked at her husband with a curious gaze as he led her to her spot.

"Why are we going here love?" she asked

"You'll see love."

As they got under the shade of the large tree Harry suddenly became very nervous. With a quick kiss he looked deep into her emerald eyes.

"Hermione, I know that this is all in the wrong order but if you will indulge me for a second. You are the reason I am still sane, you complete me and make me want to keep on going. I know that we never discussed it until the other week, but I have loved you since the day I met you, but was too scared to say anything. The day you told me you loved me was the best day of my life. Although we are Soul Bonded and married, I never asked you and you deserve that moment." He took a small box out of his pocket and lowered himself to one knee. Opening the box he looked up at her with absolute love and adoration in his eyes.

"Hermione Jean Granger, would you do me the ultimate honour of becoming my wife. I promise to love and to cherish you for all of eternity if you will have me?"

Hermione had gasped as soon as he got down on one knee, tears springing to her eyes. She looked at the ring he was offering her and then at the green eyes looking at her. With a silent nod, she took him in her arms. Finally able to get her voice to work she croaked out her acceptance.

"Yes, Harry, yes."

With a smile, and tears in his eyes, Harry took his mother's ring and gently placed it on Hermione's ring finger. As the ring touched the wedding ring, it flashed and both rings magically swapped places. The indistinct stones either side of the large diamond flared and were replaced with a single sapphire and ruby, to represent both their birthstone. Hermione looked at the ring in awe.

"This used to be my mother's engagement ring. The two coloured stones represent the both of us. It is charmed to protect you against most charms and curses, and no one will be able to remove it from you."

"Harry, you can't give me your mothers ring, it's far too precious." She protested.

"So are you my love, I can think of no one more deserving that you. I know she would be more than happy for you to wear her ring."

Hermione looked happily at her new ring, as it nestled behind her wedding band. With an almost squeal she launched herself at Harry and kissed him passionately. Once more a golden glow enveloped the couple as the bond moved ever-more closer to its completion. They stood in there passionate embrace as the sun glowed over the black lake, lost in each other's love.


	10. Chapter 9  Holidays

**A/N Sorry for the delay, been busy with real life. Please enjoy and review.**

**Chapter Nine - Holidays**

It was a strange sight that Roger and Jean arrived home to witness. Both teens were sat on the floor in the lotus position, hands resting on their knees, palms open and facing up. Both had their eyes shut and an expression of extreme calm on their faces. Roger was about to speak to them when Jean shook her head. She motioned for him to follow her to the kitchen.

"Roger, I don't know much about magic but when I was in uni, I did a lot of meditating. It's not good to disturb someone when they are so deep in a trance like they are. We will just have to wait for them to finish themselves. Let's put the kettle on and have a drink whilst we wait. We can then go out for dinner."

"Why go out for dinner love?"

Jean sighed, why did men have to be so unobservant. "Roger, I have a feeling that they both might want to celebrate tonight."

Roger gave her a confused look. She laughed lightly. "Go through there and have a look at your daughter's left hand. Do NOT disturb them though."

Roger left and came back a few seconds later with a smile on his face. "I'll make a reservation for 'Mamma Mia's' and ask them to put some champagne on ice for us. I couldn't see the ring very well, but it looks fantastic. She is a very lucky girl. I'm still going to kill them after this morning though!"

"You will do no such thing Roger, I will have a word with Hermione and you will say nothing!"

In the other room, Harry was at peace, as his mind found its focus, a sense of intense calm came over him. He found himself walking through a beautiful forest; he could hear the birds singing and the warmth of the sun on his face. He could sense many creatures around him in the forest and in the air, but for the moment, none would come close to him. As he walked he came across a stream flowing through the forest. Sat by the water's edge was Hermione, her legs dangling in the moving water and a look of pure bliss on her face.

"Mione? How come you are here? I thought this was my mind-scape?"

"Harry! Merlin you made me jump. I thought that this was mine, but I guess it makes sense that we would share one. Have you seen any animals yet?"

"No, you?" Harry replied, whilst he sat next to her, his hand intertwining with hers automatically.

"Well I've heard them but none have come up to me. I was surprised how quickly I found my centre though. I guess we will have to keep practicing until we find our animals."

The world began to sway and blur as Harry slowly began to realise that he was waking up. He faintly heard Hermione say "See you soon" when suddenly he was back in the lounge of Hermione's parents, sat on the floor. As he slowly regained awareness of surroundings he saw Hermione also open her eyes and smile at him.

"Well that's was refreshing, I feel brilliant, like I've just had a brilliant night's sleep." She announced as she stretched her arms. They both stood and embraced, but quickly became aware of voices coming from the kitchen. They both walked into the kitchen and saw Roger and Jean sat at the table, both with big Cheshire cat grins on their faces.

"Evening you two, had a good day have you?" Roger asked.

"Anything happen of any note?" Jean asked with a grin.

The young couple looked at the elder couple with a confused look on their faces.

"Have you two been drinking, or sniffing the anaesthetic gas again?" Hermione asked.

Both parents laughed and Jean pointed at Hermione's finger.

"Oh! Yes Harry asked me to marry him...so I did...before he asked!" as she spoke she extended her hand and her mother rushed over to view the ring.

"Oh my God, that's beautiful, it must have cost a fortune." She breathed.

"Actually, it didn't cost anything, it belonged to my mother, and the two coloured stones are designed to magically change to our birthstones." Harry replied.

"Isn't it beautiful mum, and the fact that it was Lily's makes it even more special."

"Yes, it's beautiful darling. You and Harry had better get changed; we are going out for dinner tonight, our treat!"

As they left the room, Jean called Hermione back for a quite word.

"Hermione, whilst I know that you are now technically married, no parent wants to hear their child screaming the way you did this morning, God alone know what Harry did to make you react that way, and please don't tell me about it, but whilst you are living here, please keep the noise down. Your father nearly had a heart attack."

Hermione was blushing so much she feared that her head would blow off, but she managed to mumble a "Sorry mum, won't happen again mum." As she managed to walk away. However her mother hadn't finished with her and with a grin shouted after her.

"Way to go though daughter!"

"MUM!" wailed Hermione.

Diner was a lovely event, Harry, having never eaten Italian, before ordered the lasagne, which he stated was delicious. Champagne was a new event for him as well, but due to his age he was only allowed half a glass before switching to coke. The half glass he did have however make him very giggly and both couples enjoyed the evening immensely. They were soon brought back down to earth with a bump however when they returned home. Hedwig was waiting for them with a letter tied to her leg.

Harry walked up to her and took the letter and opened it. He gasped a little when he read it and silently handed it to Hermione who read it aloud.

"_Dear Harry_

_I have just received word from Petunia that your uncle's trial is to take place in a few weeks' time in the crown court in Guilford. You have been asked to be present and you should be prepared to take the witness stand. I know this will be a difficult time for you but I know you will face it with a brave heart. You should report to the court room on Monday 5__th__ August at 9:00. The case may take a few days so you may wish to take a hotel near the court. Good luck with the case and I will see you on Sep 1__st__._

_Warmest Regards_

_Albus Dumbledore."_

As soon as she had finished reading it she walked over to Harry and threw her arms around him.

"Don't worry Harry; I will be there for you the whole time." She said softly.

"We will be Harry, Jean and I will take the week off from work. You are not alone in this." Roger added.

Harry smiled at the people he had come to think of as his family, when a sudden idea struck him.

"Is there any chance you can take some more time off before the trial? We have a house on a beach on the south of France, and it would be great if we can have a holiday...I've never had a holiday before."

"What, ever?" Jean asked.

Harry just shook his head sadly. Jean was incensed, how could those people have treated this wonderful boy..man this way? She looked at her husband with a question in her eye.

"Well we could ask James to look after the practice for a few weeks, it's not like we don't have the staff. They would have to double up a bit but I'm sure they would help." Roger replied

Jean smiled and nodded but Hermione was a little more demonstrative as she flung herself at her father. "Thank you Daddy, thank you." Roger was touched, his girl never called him 'Daddy' these days but it warmed his heart to hear her call him it again.

"Well that's settled. We will have to go tomorrow to arrange things at work but then we can go to France. It will be odd going on holiday but not having to fly to get there."

"Dad, we don't need to pack much either, anything we forget Harry and I can just phase back here to get it. We only need to use the portkey once because Harry I don't know the location of the house yet."

"Good, I don't like those portkey things; your phasing is much nicer." Jean replied. "Now let's get to bed so we can get some sleep...sleep you two, no screaming!"

Both blushing teens went to bed and after a quick kiss were fast asleep in each other's arms dreaming of days by the beach.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

"Where is my bikini Mum?" Hermione yelled from her room.

"I don't know love, try the drawer under your bed!" came the yell back.

It was the day of the holiday and everyone was rushing around with last minute packing, everyone apart from Harry, who didn't have much to pack anyway. They had gone shopping the day before so Harry could add some beachwear to his supply of clothes, as well as a new pair of prescription sunglasses. Harry was packed and ready to go, but the rest of the household was still running around. The Grangers had arranged cover for the dentist practice and were looking forward to the days by the beach. They had however very little time to pack, hence the frantic running around. Harry was loving it, he was sat back watching his beloved and her parents get ready and it warmed him to be a part of it.

Finally they were all ready and were stood in the kitchen waiting to go. It had been decided that they would all portkey to the villa, leaving the luggage behind and as soon as Harry and Hermione had a handle on the villa location, they would phase back for the cases. Hermione had been worried about phasing such a long distance, but Harry had assured her that if they had any problems then they would just use the portkey.

"Everyone ready?" Harry asked. As soon as everyone nodded, Harry activated the portkey and once more they felt the horrible tug and twisting sensation as they travelled. Soon however they arrived in a heap in the centre of the large atrium of the villa. It had a pale coloured marble floor with a large thick rug in the centre. The ceiling was high and the whole room was flooded with light from large glass doors that looked out onto a private beach. They quickly explored the villa; everything was on one level and consisted of a large living space complete with comfy sofas and chairs, three bedrooms all with ensuite facilities as well as a large kitchen diner. Outside was a large pool with BBQ area and garden and on the other side was the beach. This was a large private expanse of beach with the Mediterranean Sea in the background. They also found a garage complete with open toped four wheel drive and a couple of beach buggies. Jutting out from the beach was a floating pontoon with a luxury yacht moored to it. Everything was in pristine condition as the magical stasis charms had kept them as they were when last used, including the yacht. It turned out that the villa was located a little way to the east of St. Tropez in a little private bay. The fridge was already stocked and the weather warm and sunny. Harry and Hermione quickly 'phased; back to the house in the UK for the luggage and within moments were back. The longer distance seemed to have no bearing on their ability to 'phase', and they felt that with time even a trip to their house in Australia would be a quick and painless thing.

An hour later they were all lying by the pool in the warm sunshine. Mr and Mrs Granger had cold beers in their hands and the two teens had soft drinks. Harry was in heaven; here he was lying on a lounger next to his beloved Hermione with a cold drink in his hand. The only slight problem was the fact that Hermione had decided to wear a bikini that was so small, it barely covered anything. This was making it difficult for Harry to concentrate on anything, and getting up at the moment was a total non starter. Hermione was totally aware of this fact due to their bond, but found it very amusing. She turned to lie on her belly, and unfastened the top of the bikini.

"Harry, put some suntan cream on my back please love." She asked.

"Harry blushed and quickly looked over at his in-laws who were watching with barely concealed grins at the embarrassed teen.

"Err Mione, you sure?" He asked desperately trying to conceal his obvious arousal.

"Harry, just come over here and don't worry about it, we are married and I need some suntan cream on my back before I burn. Ignore Mum and Dad, they are just teasing you."

So Harry shuffled across to her lounger and began to rub the cream on her naked back and legs. Roger watched for a little while before huffing about something and went inside for a lie down, followed by a giggling Jean. Once they were alone Harry relaxed and began to enjoy rubbing his wife's back, who was happily enjoying the suntan cream and the massage thrown in. She flipped herself over to her back, losing the top completely in the process.

"Whoops, now I'm going to need some on the front." She purred, with a mischievous grin on her face.

Glancing around to see that they were alone, Harry happily obliged, taking a lot longer to apply the cream to her breasts than anywhere else, much to Hermione's amusement and delight.

"Harry, I do love you. Now it's your turn, lie down and give me the cream."

Harry lay down and let Hermione apply the cream to his body before turning around and letting her do his front. With a smile, he enlarged the sun lounger he was laying on to accommodate two and the rest of the day was spent cuddling together or swimming in the pool. Hermione never did bother to put the top back on, even after the glares she received from her father. She just gave him a challenging look that seemed to say, 'This is our house, and our rules – deal with it!" Jean after a while of watching her husband took him by the hand and had a few words with him, and this seemed to cool his temper.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

It was a few days later, the previous days had been spent in a similar way to the first day apart from they had also spent a lot of time on the beach, enjoying the warm sand and the sea. Because it was a private beach, Hermione was still happy to go topless, much to Harry's delight. He was now very relaxed, both in himself and around his wife. They took an hour every day to meditate and to find there centre, this happened very easily, but although they could sense, hear and occasionally see a glimpse of an animal it was still too early for one to make itself know to the mind travellers. Every night with her was now bliss, due to fact that every night they had come as close to having sex as possible without going that extra step. Silencing charms had been placed over there room and Hermione's parents seemed to accept the situation totally now, even to the point of been able to tease the two young lovers.

Hermione had never been happier; she had never felt contentment like she felt at the moment. The days were so relaxing and the nights, well she had never been more satisfied. Harry was a kind and gentle lover and she was struggling a little to keep her promise to wait until her birthday. She could feel her love for Harry grow day by day as they enjoyed this unexpected 'honeymoon'.

One morning they had decided to go for a drive into the town, to see some of the sights. Roger had agreed to drive and they were all settling into the large open topped 4x4.

"Dad, just drive down the lane, the wards will let us pass." Hermione told him when he asked how to get to the main road.

Soon the party were driving down the seafront road in St Tropez, enjoying the sounds and smells of the busy seaside town. After parking they walked around the town and enjoyed a lovely lunch in one of the many restaurants. It was here that Harry learnt that Hermione spoke fluent French, and he was even more surprised that he also understood the language. He was even more shocked when he realised that he had ordered his food in perfect French and they had figured out that because Hermione knew the language, because of their bond, Harry was also fluent.

In the evening they travelled to a place called Port Grimaud, a beautiful town that looked a lot like Venice with sea filled canals. It was here that things started to go wrong. As they explored the quite streets they came across an empty square. The odd thing was that the other tourists seem to ignore the square and kept on walking.

Hermione was just about to comment on this when with a loud pop they were suddenly surrounded by Death-Eaters. Two of the masked figures grabbed Hermione's parents and held wands to their heads, whilst the rest trained their wands on the two teens.

"Well now, if it isn't itty bitty Potter and his Mudblood whore!" drawled the dreaded voice of Bellatrix Lestrange. "Fancy meeting you two here...Now don't try anything like apparating out of here, cos the Mudbloods parents will be dead before you can blink."

Harry was thinking furiously. He needed to get Hermione's parents safe before they could do anything. Luckily when they were captured he had his hands in his pockets and he'd found a spare galleon there. Silently he created a Portkey of the coin, keyed to the Grangers. Hermione was poised, her connection with Harry heighted by the situation, and she was almost able to hear his thoughts, she knew what he was doing and prepared.

A Deatheater came up to her and roughly took her wand from her, whilst another came over to take Harry's. As soon as the Deatheater took hold of Harry, he exploded into action. Wandlessly he caused an explosion behind the Deatheaters, this caused most of them to look around in surprise. Instantly he phased to the two holding the Grangers, and stunned them before pressing the coin into their hands. The two parents vanished into the night, and Harry whirled around to the face the remaining group. Hermione had not been as quick as Harry, and so Bellatrix had taken the opportunity to come up behind her and now had her wand pointed to Hermione's temple.

"STOP!" she shouted. "One more move Potter and she is dead! Now drop the wand!" she commanded.

Harry froze, he knew that Hermione could survive a killing curse due to the soul bond, but nothing like a cutting or a blasting curse. Hermione was looking at him with tears running down her face, as she felt the disappointment in her slowness to react. However Harry wasn't going to be stopped so easily. He dropped his wand and began to back away from the pair.

"Stop Potter, where are you going? You're not going to leave your Mudblood?" Bellatrix asked in surprise. Harry just grinned at her and kept backing away until he began to feel the separation pain. As he had been backing away Hermione had been looking at him in surprise and a little worry until she also felt the separation pain. Soon realising what he was doing she got ready. As soon as the pain was strong enough she acted. With a quick elbow jab to the elder woman's gut causing her to double over she phased over to Harry.

"Go love, go check your parents, I won't be long!" he told her and without a sound she was gone, leaving Harry stood in now a wide circle of Deatheaters.

"Now Bella, it's just me. Now shall we play?" With a whirl he wandlessly stunned four of the surrounding Deatheaters whilst creating a shield around him to ward of the blasting curses coming his way. His stunners were more powerful than Bella had ever seen before and even thought the other Deatheaters were trying to bring the stunned men around, nothing seemed to work.

"Now that's four more down, what have you got left?"

Bella was getting madder and madder with every passing second. This was supposed to be a quick kill and grab exercise. She was supposed to kill the Mudblood and her parents and then take Potter back to her master. They had been searching for the group for days and it was only when one of the informants stationed around the world had called in that they made a move. She had taken a few of the new recruits with her and hadn't expected any problems, but Potter seemed to be more powerful and more confident than ever before. She was under strict instructions not to kill him, but she was noting thinking properly at the moment. She pointed her wand and shouted the fatal words.

"AVEDA KEDAVERA!" the green curse flew towards the boy who just stood there smiling at her. The spell hit him and the green light danced around him before fading. Harry just continued to stand smiling at Bellatrix.

"Aw Bella! That tickled. DIFFINDO!" the curse shot out and severed the elder witches arm from her shoulder. Her arm, still with wand grasped in the hand fell to the floor with a wet splat. Bella screamed in pain and fell to the floor in a heap.

The rest of the Deatheaters had quickly backed away in fear at this young man who could so easily ignore a killing curse. One of them apparated away in fear and as soon as he did this caused the rest to flee leaving a lone Bellatrix, still foaming at the mouth slightly with pain. She had frozen to the spot, her thought processes confused and slow, pain wracked her now broken body. No one, not even her master could do what Potter had just done. She began to feel a strange emotion growing inside her. It took her a while to recognise it but finally she knew what it was. It was fear, raw nagging fear.

Harry had narrowed his eyes at the hated Bellatrix. He had wanted to kill her for everything she had done. Her killing of Sirius had almost driven him mad, and he raised his hand to cast the killing curse at her when he saw in his mind's eye, the lovely emerald green eyes of his wife. She was looking at him with sadness, it was then that he realised that he wasn't a killer, at least not a cold blooded one. He would kill if he had to, but this demented woman in front of him was no risk to him, not now any way. He could not take a life so coldly, for if he did, he would become no better that Voldemort.

"Bella, do me a favour." He asked as he wandlessly cauterised her wound. "Tell your Half-blood master to leave me and my own alone, or I will reduce his followers to dust and make him wish he's never heard the name Potter. No go you worthless bitch!" as Harry spoke he began to glow with raw power, the air whipping up around him.

Bella looked at the sight before her in terror, and quickly apparated away, her severed arm and wand left behind. Harry silently summoned his own wand as well as Hermione's dropped one. As he bent to pick up the wand in the clawed hand of Bellatrix he became aware of another group of people apparating to the scene. These appeared to be French Aurors arriving, wands drawn ready for battle. They took in the scene of the six stunned Deatheaters and the severed arm on the floor, and what appeared to be a young teenager glowing with raw energy.

Harry slowly raised his arms and waited for them to come to him. The spoke in French to him, but Harry understood perfectly.

"What has happened here? Who are you?" the leader asked him, wand raised but not pointing directly at him.

"My wife and her family were having a pleasant stroll when we were attacked by a large group of Deatheaters. We fought back and they fled. The six over there are stunned, not dead. The arm belonged to their leader but she also is not dead, but she fled a few seconds ago. Her name is Bellatrix Lestrange."

The lead Auror raised his eyebrows in surprise, even here in France he had heard of Lestrange.

"You did that to her and them? Just who are you?"

Harry smiled and gently lifted the hair from his forehead. "I'm Harry Potter sir, and yes I did that to her and them. They will not come around with a normal Enervate spell though for a few hours yet. I was a little annoyed when I stunned them, so was a little excessive."

"We will need your memories of the event Mr Potter, once we have that you may leave this place but please don't leave France until we have investigated the event. Where can we find you?"

Harry told them where he could be found and removed the memories from his mind and handing them to the leader who placed them in a glass vial.

"Mr Potter, thank you for your co-operation. My name is Robert Ducon and I apologise on behalf of the French ministry that this happened on our soil. I wish you a pleasant remainder of your holiday. I will contact you as soon as we are finished with the investigation."

With a smile he bid Harry goodnight and turned to his men, who had restrained the six unconscious Deatheaters and picked up the severed hand. With a final look at the area, Harry 'phased' away back to the villa. As soon as he arrived he was set upon by a wailing and distraught Hermione.

"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry for freezing, I was just so amazed at how fast you moved that I just froze and then Bella caught me. Oh are you alright?" She gabbled at him all the while holding him tight and crying. Roger and Jean were sat on the sofa with what looked like brandies in glasses. Both were looking shocked and concerned but both appeared to be unharmed.

"Mione, shush. I'm fine and you were fine. When you elbowed Bellatrix in the stomach I nearly cheered. Are you okay?"

"Yes love I'm fine, just a bit shook up. What happened after I left?" she asked.

So Harry told her and her parents the rest of the tale as well as they fact they weren't allowed to leave until the French Aurors had completed their investigations.

As soon as he finished his tale Mr Granger stood and shook Harry's hand and thanked him for saving his and his families lives.

"Son, you are part of this family now and I want you to know I trust you and my daughter implicitly. I only have one request. Please wait a few years before you make us grandparents."

Mrs Granger pulled him into a long hug and kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you Harry, thank you for everything."

With a sudden 'pop' Baxter and Ivy appeared with concerned looks on their faces. "Is everything alright Harry Sir? We were aware of the attack and were worried."

"Guys, everything is fine. I and my family are well. We have to stay for a little while whilst the French do the investigation. I think it would be better if we all stay around the villa. Baxter and Ivy can you bring some food from the Manor please."

Both little elves bowed and vanished, before returning with food. They prepared a delicious diner that they family ate on the terrace outside before all retiring to bed.

It was four days before the French finished the investigation, during which time Harry celebrated his sixteenth birthday. It was a quiet celebration with only the Grangers and Ron and Ginny, who Baxter brought over. Harry received the usual presents from people but the best was the one from Hermione. She had put together a photo album of her and Harry, with some beautiful pictures of the pair of them over the years. It culminated in a beautiful picture of Harry and Hermione sat on the beach in front of the Villa. They were sat arm in arm oblivious to the camera, watching the sun setting over the sea. Harry's eyes filled up as he looked at the picture and turned to his wife.

"Thank you, it's perfect, your prefect!"

Everyone made "Aww" noises and Jean had to fetch tissues for her and Ginny who were crying unashamedly. Everyone laughed as the noticed Roger brushing tears from his eyes too as he watched the wonderful scene. Roger stated that he had sand in his eyes and wasn't crying – No one believed him.

Ginny and Ron stayed for a few days, enjoying the delights of the pool and the beach, but both were a bit intimidated by the sea, having never seen such a large expanse of water before. Harry found the fact that Hermione now took to wearing an all-in-one swimsuit amusing considering her previous beach attire. When questioned she blushed and said that her body was for Harry's eyes only.

The French finally decided that Harry was to be commended for his actions and the family were cleared to leave. The six Deatheaters were turned over to the British Ministry for trial, and the family left the Villa returning to the Grangers home before moving to large comfy hotel in Guilford for Vernon's Trial. The two Weasleys returned to the Burrow with promises to speak after the trial and with statements of good luck for Harry.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

Deep in the cellar Lord Voldemort was not a happy Dark Lord. He had sent Bellatrix on a simple kill and grab mission and she had returned empty handed...well empty hand as she now only had one. He had killed one of the new Deatheaters in fit of temper and Bella needed medical treatment after he had tortured her.

"Wormtail, where are you?" he called in his softest most dangerous voice.

"Here master, how may I serve you?" Wormtail asked after throwing himself onto his knees in front of his master.

"You may tell me that you have worked out how to use the Chronos crystal." He whispered.

"Off course my master, I am confident that as soon as you give us the correct temporal calculations, you may be able to make your journey."

"My Journey? If you think I am trusting myself to your work Wormtail you are wrong. We will send you on the journey first to test the crystal. If all is well, I will accompany you." Voldemort said, looking sternly at the quivering Deatheater.

"Of course my Lord! When are we to make this journey?" Peter asked

"This I have calculated. The planets will be in alignment on one day only. This is the only time that we can make the attempt for the next 345 years. The date is going to be the 19th September, so be ready my little Wormtail."

"Yes my Lord, all will be ready."


	11. Chapter 10 Trials and Troubles

**A/N Sorry for the delay in writing this, real world has been busy. First I need to say, I am not a lawyer or a Judge. I have never been to court, nor do I watch legal dramas so if I got any othe the legal procedure wrong then sorry - this is fiction after all :-) Second, please review. Ta M**

**Chapter Ten – Trials and Troubles**

Harry had booked three deluxe suites at a very old hotel in the centre of Guilford called The Angel Hotel. Hermione and Harry were in one of the larger suites, the two Grangers in the other and the third had been reserved for Petunia and Dudley, who was to join them late on Sunday. Harry had been nervous about inviting the two Dursleys but after his last meeting with them he had decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. The hotel was a very beautiful old building with the oldest part dating back to the 14th century. The rooms that Harry had booked were the best in the building and apparently Charles Dickens had stayed in the room once. The four poster bed reminded them both a little of the beds at Hogwarts, but the ones in the hotel were even more luxurious. Both couples settled in to their rooms before meeting in the bar before dinner.

"Harry, why are we staying in a hotel when you two could …how do you call it, 'phase' us to and from the manor?" Jean asked. Roger nodded in agreement with his wife, and to be honest Hermione had been wondering the same point. "Not that I mind, this is a lovely hotel, I was just wondering."

"Good question Jean. The best answer is that when we 'phase' we cannot see if anyone is around at the point we appear in. If we were to be seen by some Muggles it would create all sorts of problems with the Ministry and I don't need them angry with me at the moment. However the real answer is that I have never spent any time in a hotel and I just fancied it. This one looked nice and it also means that the Dursleys could stay here as well with us."

At his mention of the Dursley name, both Jean and Roger looked cross and Hermione looked concerned.

"I'm not sure about meeting your 'relatives' Harry after all they put you through. I know you say that Vernon forced them both to hurt you, but even so, Petunia could have done something. And the baby whale didn't have to bully you at school did he?" Jean said with an angry voice.

Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair, making it messier than normal. He let his breath out in a long groan. "Yes I know, don't think I haven't thought about that fact, and it's something I need to ask them both. They are however the only blood family I have left. I say blood family because you three are more family to me than they ever could be, but she is my mother's sister and I owe it to her memory to try to make peace with them. "

Hermione had taken his hand and had cuddled up to him as he spoke, and so he rested his head on hers.

"Vernon is another matter however. Even though he was under an Imperious curse – I wonder who cast that? Anyway, when he pushed me down the stairs there were plenty of other times when he wasn't. You three will have to be strong during the trial. Mione knows some of my history but not all of it. I am guessing that when I give evidence they will want me to tell my life story…..it's not pretty but it is in the past. Mione is my present and future and that is all that really matters."

Hermione had tears in her eyes as Harry spoke and she reached over and kissed him passionately causing the two elder Grangers to blush and avert their eyes from the kissing couple. However as they kissed they began to glow again causing Jean to hiss to them. "You're glowing, stop it!"

With a giggle Hermione broke away from her husband and began to blush. "Sorry mum!" she said, not looking sorry at all.

This was the end of the conversation as they went to the restaurant for a fantastic meal, before retiring to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a tough day, so after a brief but loving kissing session Harry and Hermione decided to sleep. However Harry was not to have an easy night as the stress of the trial had brought back his nightmares. He awoke in the early hours sweating and crying. In his dreams he was five years old once more and had been beaten by Vernon. His arm was broken again and he was lying on his 'bed' in his cupboard. However as he laid there he could see his 'family' telling him that he deserved it and that he was worthless. It was at this point that he awoke to find himself in the arms of Hermione who was trying to calm him down. After ten minutes of been held and gently kissed he finally calmed down enough to fall back to a restless sleep.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

The trial was scheduled to start at eleven o'clock on the Monday morning. After a pleasant breakfast in bed, the young couple left there room and knocked on the door that contained the Dursleys.

"Come in!" came the reply from inside the room. Harry opened the door and was met by his cousin.

"Harry! How have you been?" Dudley asked in a rather subdued voice.

"Well, Big D. You?"

"Okay, I guess. Just very nervous about the trial. Is it wrong to want him to be sent away for a long time? I mean he is my father after all." Dudley asked.

Harry smiled a sad smile. "I don't know Dudley, I really don't know. Dud, I need to ask you something."

With an insight that Harry didn't know his cousin possessed, Dudley correctly asked, "Why did I do what I did? Even with my father forcing me?"

Harry nodded at his cousin, impressed with the intelligence he was showing. As he looked at his large cousin, his aunt entered the sitting room from the bedroom and quietly sat to listen.

"Harry, I am not a nice person. I freely admit that when I was younger I enjoyed bullying you. When I was very little, I remember wanting to play with you but my father stopped me and started in instil into me his hatred of you, so of course I grew up hating you as well. However as I got older, mum tried to stop me from bullying you as much, but it was only when you saved my life from those Dementor things. I took a long hard look at my life and myself and to be honest I wasn't happy with what I saw. So we tried to help and keep 'him' out of your way. Didn't work though, the bastard still nearly killed you. I realized that I am ashamed to be his son."

As soon as he paused Petunia spoke. "I am divorcing him, guilty or not. I will be Petunia Evans by the end of the week, and Dudley will be Dudley Evans. The Dursley name will hopefully die with that man. Harry I know we have a lot to atone for, and that I will never expect full forgiveness. All I ask is the chance to be a better aunt to you in the future….if you will allow me." She said the last bit in a very quiet voice.

Harry then did something he never ever thought he would do. He stood and walked over to his aunt and gently and briefly hugged her. It wasn't a long hug, nor was it particular loving but it was a start. Petunia looked shocked and then her eyes filled and the tears began to cascade down her face. She looked at Harry and in a quiet voice asked. "Harry, one day will you take me to your parent's graves. I need to speak to Lily and apologise."

"Aunt, I haven't been myself. We will go together as soon as we can. Now are we ready for today?"

"No, but let's get on with putting that evil bastard where he belongs; behind bars."

Within half an hour the six of them were walking the short distance to the courthouse. As they walked both Harry and Hermione could see that they had a guard on both sides of the road. Tonks, Remus and Moody were following them all under invisibility cloaks. However with their massive magical power both the teens could see them quite clearly. It was obvious that the order were still concerned about the pair been ambushed again, even after Harry had shown that he was more than capable of defending himself and his loved ones.

They soon entered the courts and were shown to a waiting area to wait for the trial to begin. As they sat a smartly dressed man came up to speak to them.

"Good morning Mr Potter, Mrs Dursley, Master Dursley; I am Ian McPherson. I am the attorney that is prosecuting Mr Dursley. We will be calling all of you to give evidence but we will be asking Mr Potter to go last. This may not all get done today, so you will have to stay around her for a few days. Now between you and me, I know the defence lawyer and he is a good family man. I know for a fact that he has been having problems with Vernon's attitude and I'm sure he is convinced that he is guilty. That said he is a good defence lawyer, so he will try his best to get his client off….just not that hard. So just answer all the questions honestly, don't get flustered and take your time. Ok?"

They all nodded and Ian left them by saying that the courts were running a little late but hopefully things would get going soon.

Within an hour the court bailiff was calling all involved into court number three. Harry, Petunia and Dudley were shown to the front of the court where the witnesses were sat. Hermione and her parents were shown to the viewing gallery.

As Harry sat down he was surprised to see Dr Mark Evans sat with them along with Mrs Figg. Both nodded at Harry with Mark looking very pleased to see Harry, but they both glared at Petunia and Dudley who looked sad but contrite.

Then Vernon was brought into the dock, flanked on both sides by two tough looking guards. He was handcuffed to one of them, but as he took his place they removed the handcuffs. Vernon looked pale and ill, but as soon as he saw Harry he started to look angry. He was about to start a rant about the 'Freak' when his defence lawyer leant over and spoke to him angrily. Vernon almost bit his tongue and turned away and stared into space. He did not even glance at his wife and son.

Andrew Grimes was the defence lawyer for this case but was not happy about it. As far as he was concerned the fat whale sat next to him was guilty as hell and deserved all that was coming to him. However he wasn't allowed to say anything, especially as he knew how the pig was going to plead. When he was assigned the case, he had read all the evidence and medical reports and was sure that the animal who had done this would plead guilty in order to try to get a lighter sentence. The evidence was overwhelming and no one, not even the most deluded would try to argue with it, or so he thought. Then he met Vernon Dursley and that was the day he lost a lot of faith in the human race. The deluded idiot was going to plead 'Not Guilty', and what was even more surprising to Andrew was the fact that Dursley believed that he wasn't guilty, and that all this was nothing to do with him. At first he had raved on about magic and the fact that the 'Freak' was a wizard. Andrew was getting very concerned that Dursley was insane, and he hated those cases. But eventually Dursley realised that his ranting was having the opposite effect and he toned it down. He seemed to be convinced that it was his right to treat the 'Freak' anyway he wanted and that there was nothing wrong with his treatment of Harry Potter. His abuse of his wife was apparently 'nothing to do with the courts as she was his wife'. 'Oh well!' thought Andrew, 'This will be a laugh'.

"Court Rise!" came the command from the court clerk. "The Honourable Mr Justice Scott preceding."

Everyone is the room stood as the judge entered the court room and took his place at the bench. As soon as he sat, the rest of the court took their seats.

The clerk stood and read aloud, "Mr Vernon Dursley, you are charged with the following charges. Attempted murder of a minor, one Master Harry Potter. Child abuse and neglect of a minor, one Master Harry Potter. Twenty seven counts of actual bodily harm to a minor, one Master Harry Potter. Actual bodily harm to your wife, one Mrs Petunia Dursley and Child abuse of your son, one Master Dudley Dursley. How do you plead?"

Vernon stood up and just couldn't help himself. "These charges are a joke and you have no right to judge me. The 'Freak' deserved everything that he got!" he shouted. Andrew Grimes just groaned and placed his head in his hands. The Judge took his gavel and rapped it on his large desk in front of him.

"Mr Dursley, you will answer the question put to you without these outbursts otherwise I will add the charge of contempt." He nodded to clerk to repeat the question.

"How do you plead?" came the question once more.

"Not Guilty!" Vernon snarled.

"So let it be noted. You will now be tried by a jury of 12 people. Please can the jury be sworn in." The jury were soon sworn in and the case began.

It started with the prosecution outlining all the charges and that they would be providing a number of witnesses to give evidence before they would ask Harry to speak. Vernon would then take the stand and give his account of events.

The first few witnesses were all residents that lived on Privet Drive and they all said the same. They had seen Harry wandering the streets when he was younger looking underfed and bruised. He was often limping or bloodied in some way, but none had thought to contact anyone about it as Vernon was always telling everyone that Harry was always fighting at school.

The Mrs Figg was asked to take the stand. Once she was sworn in she began her tale of how she had watched Harry, and how she had tendered his wounds when he came to stay with her. She had tried to report Vernon many times but each time he had managed to talk his way out of it. She of course made no mention of the Wizarding world or the fact that she was a Squib. The defence made a weak attempt to discredit her sanity due to her age, but everyone could tell that Andrew was just going through the motions.

Things became more serious was Dr Mark Evans was called to the stand. Once sworn in Ian asked Mark to tell the court the medical evidence.

"I was the consultant in charge on the day that Mr Potter was brought into the department. He had come via A&E and was in a bad way. He had multiple broken bones, internal bleeding as well as a very serious head injury. We performed an emergency MRI of Mr Potter's head and found massive internal bleeding and damage. He was sent to surgery but the outcome was very grim. We put him on a DNR list and contacted his next of kin to enquire about organ donation."

"Dr Evans, can you give your opinion of how Mr Potter acquired those injuries please?"

"Yes sir, it appeared that most of the injuries were obtained by a fall, such as a person falling down the stairs."

"And the head injury?"

"Well that was different. When we examined Mr Potter, we found boot indentations in his head. We surmised from that that he had been repeatedly kicked in the head by a very large individual."

"Dr Evans, for the jury can you explain what a DNR list is please?"

"Yes of course, a DNR stands for 'Do not Resuscitate' and is given when a patient injuries or condition is said to be so severe that survival is not expected."

"So are you saying that you believed that Mr Potter was going to die?"

"Yes sir, it was my belief that Mr Potter was brain dead and that he would never recover. However I was so glad to be proven wrong."

"Can you explain what happened next Dr" Ian asked.

"Off course. I had contacted Harry's next of kin. The police had found a hand written note declaring that Mr Potter wanted to name a Miss Hermione Granger as his next of kin. It was her mother I spoke to on the phone and they agreed to attend the hospital."

It was here that Mark, Harry, Hermione and everyone else who knew the truth had agreed to bend the truth a little.

"When Miss Granger arrived, as you can imagine she was very distressed and would not let us turn off the life support machines, she sat with Harry and spoke to him constantly. What I saw could only be described as a miracle because her talking of her love for him started to bring him around. Medical evidence has shown that the hearing is the last thing to go, and in this case Harry could hear Hermione, and this was enough to bring him back her. I have no medical explanation for how she did it, but she did."

It was at this stage that the defence had to interrupt. "Are we to believe that Mr Potter was about to be declared dead and then was alive and well? Are you sure that his injuries were as severe as you believed?"

"Yes sir, I can provide the medical evidence of the MRI scans as well as the brain scans. To all intensive purposes Mr Potter was dead, and then he wasn't.

The Judge looked at the Doctor and then at Harry. He smiled a little and asked for the court to be cleared apart from the Doctor, Harry and the two barristers. Once this was done he asked them to approach the bench.

"Mr Potter, what house are you in at Hogwarts?" he asked confusing all apart from Harry, who was very surprised.

"Errr Griffindor sir, but how do you know about Hogwarts?" Harry stuttered

"My sister married a wizard so I know about magic. I was sworn to secrecy by your ministry unless a case needed me to divulge my knowledge. I think an explanation is in order for my two lawyers here."

Harry and the judge explained about the magical word and both were very sceptical until Harry showed them some magic. The judge made them swear to keep the secret and then asked Dr Evans how Harry really survived. Between them they explained that Hermione had saved Harry using magic and that it really had no bearing on the case. The judge was happy with the explanations and asked for the court to resume. Once everyone was re-seated Andrew continued.

"Dr Evans have you had an opportunity to look at the rest of the medical information about Mr Potter?"

"Yes Sir, I have performed extensive test on him, as well as trying to find medical records from when he was a child."

"Trying to find?"

"Well yes, one of the things I found when I examined Mr Potter's MRI and other scans was evidence of multiple old breaks of bones in the hand, arm, shoulder, many ribs, his jaw, evidence of burns, and repeated whippings with what appeared to be a belt buckle on his back, legs and posterior. I was looking for evidence of hospital treatments of these injuries but I found nothing. They appeared to have been left to heal naturally, and in some cases badly. There was evidence of previous infection in some of the wounds."

"Are you telling the court that a child was injured and that the injuries were left untreated?"

"Yes sir, Mr Potter would also have been in terrible pain from these injuries."

"In your estimation, could these injuries been inflicted by a child during school as Mr Dursley has stated?"

"No sir, these injuries would require the force of an adult to create them."

The questioning continued for some time with Dr Evans explaining more and more of Harry's past injuries. Hermione was crying the whole time as the details of her husband's past life was made public. Vernon started ahead, not making eye contact with anyone whilst Petunia looked ashamed. Dr Evans then explained the extent to the injuries on Petunia. Whilst not as extensive as the ones to Harry, some of them were very old implying that he had been beating her for a very long time.

Then police investigators and scientists gave evidence that seemed to prove it was Vernon who assaulted Harry and showed the old belt they had found that was caked in Harry's dried blood. DNA evidence showed that the only other DNA on the belt belonged to Vernon. The defence barely questioned any witness. By the time all the police and scientists had given evidence it was nearly the end of the day. The judge finished for the day and asked everyone to be back the following day. It was to be Harry's turn tomorrow and he wasn't looking forward to it. As soon as they got back to the hotel, Hermione flew to his arms and began to kiss him. Both Jean and Roger looked uncomfortable and left the room as the two young lovers kissed the pain of the day away. It was a very quiet evening meal, with everyone lost in their own thoughts. Petunia had stayed in her room, so ashamed was she by the evidence today. Dudley just sat and played with his food, before standing and stating that he wasn't hungry and was off to bed. That in itself was a surprise; Dudley never missed the opportunity to eat. Harry stood and went after him.

"Dud? You okay?" he called after his cousin

Dudley stopped but didn't turn around at first, when he did Harry was floored to see tears rolling down his cousin's large face.

"Dud?" he asked.

"Harry, how could be do that to you? All those injuries, all that pain...why?" he said in a broken voice.

"Why what Dud?" Harry asked

"Why, despite everything we have put you through, why are you such a nice person?" Dudley asked.

Harry almost chuckled at the question but didn't. He thought for a while before answering the larger boy. "Honestly I'm not sure. I know that a lot of victims of abuse end up abusers themselves, but for some reason I didn't and then I met Hermione... she's my anchor to life."

Dudley signed. "I hope that I find someone who loves me as much as she loves you. I've made a bit of a mess of my life so far. I really need to change."

"You will Big D, you will."

"And that's another thing. I don't like Big D anymore. I need to lose weight otherwise I'm going to end up dead at early age. The diet starts today."

"Good for you Dudley, I'm sure you will be fine."

"As soon as this is all over and Mum's divorce comes through, Dudley Dursley is dead, only Dudley Evans will be left and I hope he is a lot nicer. One day Harry, when everything is over, will you tell me about magic, about you and Hermione, and about all your times at that school of yours?"

"With pleasure Dudley Evans, with pleasure."

"Goodnight Harry, let's get the bastard tomorrow." And Dudley left to go to bed.

Harry turned to go back downstairs only to find Hermione stood looking at him.

"Hey you!" he said. "You heard all that?"

"Yes Harry, he seems like he's changed."

"Yeah, I think today was a bit of an epiphany for him. I think he looked at his father in the dock and saw himself in a few years. Hopefully he will change and be happier for it."

"Let's go to bed, you look you could do with a cuddle." Hermione said, taking his hand and walking him to their room.

The cuddle turned into much more, and they came as close to having sex without having sex as possible. It was a much happier Harry that fell asleep in his soul mates arms, and woke the following day feeling refreshed and happy.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

"Court rise!" came the announcement. Everyone stood and the trial resumed. First Petunia and Dudley gave evidence. The both said the same thing, Vernon had made them hurt Harry otherwise he would hurt Petunia even more. When asked why they didn't report him, neither could give a decent answer. Petunia was told that she may face charges herself, to which she nodded and said that it was fine, she deserved them. It was only when she mentioned that she as divorcing Vernon, did he show any emotion. It was look of absolute hatred, aimed at Petunia and Harry in equal measure.

Then it was Harry turn. He slowly made his way to the witness stand and gave his oath.

"Mr Potter, can you please tell us in your own words, your life story?" Andrew asked.

So Harry did. He told everything, from as early as he could remember. He told them about the beatings, the burns from cigarette lighters. The whippings from the belt and all the broken bones. He told them about living in cupboard under the stairs, about having no toys or friends, about not been fed properly but been made to cook for the others. He spoke long into the morning, using a dispassionate monotone voice to avoid breaking down with emotions. The rest of the court however was more affected by his testimony. A number of the jury were openly crying. Hermione was a mess and had to be comforted by her mother and father, who to be quite honest, were not much better themselves. Even the judge looked aghast at the story. You could hear a pin drop as Harry spoke. When he got to the more recent events about the head injury, his voice did crack as he said he was scared that he would never get the opportunity to tell Hermione how much he loved her. For most of the jury, this was enough but it was what Vernon did next that sealed his fate. He stood up suddenly surprising his guards, for he had been so quiet for most of the trial.

"YOU FUCKING LITTLE BASTARD! YOU DERSERVED EVERYTHING YOU GOT. I SHOULD OF KILLED YOU THE FIRST TIME I CLAPPED EYES OF YOU. YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A FUCKING LITTLE FREAK THAT DERSERVES TO HAVE YOUR HEAD KICKED IN. **WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU - YOU LITTLE SHIT!**"

"Order! Order! Vernon Dursley you will SIT down NOW!" the guards had managed to pull him back down and were in the process of handcuffing him just in case he decided to get violent in the dock.

"The Charge of Contempt will be added to the charge sheet, and the jury will take that into account. Does the defence wish to present Mr Dursley to give evidence, because I'm not sure if it would be a good idea."

Vernon had calmed down and was now beginning to realise that his little outburst was not his most clever of ideas. After a conversation with the defence he declined the opportunity to give evidence and sat back to accept his fate.

The jury left to consider its verdict but to be honest it was a foregone conclusion. They were only deliberating for half an hour before the court clerk ushered them back to the courtroom. By now Harry had moved as was sat with Hermione who was clinging to him as if her life depended on him.

The Jury spokesperson stood and the clerk asked him.

"Has the jury reached a verdict on all charges?" the clerk asked

"Yes your honour." The spokesperson replied. Even though the clerk asked the question, the answer was aimed at the judge.

"And are the verdicts unanimous in all cases?"

"They are your Honour"

"On the charge of Contempt of Court, how does the jury find, guilty or not guilty?"

"The jury finds the defendant guilty your Honour."

"On the charge of Child abuse of Mr Dudley Dursley, how does the jury find, guilty or not guilty?"

"The jury finds the defendant guilty your Honour." Came the reply.

"On the charge of actual bodily harm of Mrs Petunia Dursley, how does the jury find, guilty or not guilty?"

"The jury finds the defendant guilty your Honour."

"On the charge of actual bodily harm and abuse of Mr Harry Potter, how does the jury find, guilty or not guilty?"

"The jury finds the defendant guilty your Honour."

"On the charge of attempted murder of Mr Harry Potter, how does the jury find, guilty or not guilty?"

Here the spokesperson paused a little while before answering, "The jury finds the defendant guilty, your honour."

"NO! YOU CANNOT DO THAT!" Vernon cried. Petunia was crying with relief and Dudley was looking pleased. Harry didn't know what to feel other than stunned.

"Order! Please can everyone sit." The judge cried. Once calm had been restored the judge looked at Vernon.

"Vernon Dursley, you have been found guilty of all charges. Before I pass sentence I wish to say that you are a vile and horrible man, who took out his bigotry and hatred on a defenceless boy and your family. I have never heard such a more horrendous tale as the one I have heard today. I have heard no mitigating circumstances for your actions and I must take this into account when passing sentence. For the lesser crimes I sentence you to a maximum of 12 years in jail. For the crime of attempted murder I must sentence you to the maximum sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum term of twenty years. May God have mercy on your soul. Bailiff you make take the prisoner down."

Vernon was taken away swearing his revenge against Harry, but soon the court was calm again. The jury was dismissed and the court session was brought to a close. Harry, Hermione and her parents left the courthouse and returned to the hotel for a drink. Petunia stayed behind for a bit but returned a little later with her divorce papers in her hand. As she sat she almost ripped of her wedding band and threw it into the bin. She pocketed the engagement ring and said she would sell it later.

"I am now Petunia Evans, and good riddance to Petunia Dursley, she was a total bitch! Harry thank you for setting is free. One day soon It would be good to see you, but I understand if you need some time. We will be going home now. Goodbye Hermione, look after him, he's worth looking after."

Once they had left, the remaining party checked out of the hotel and found a quiet corner of a street before 'phasing' back to the manor for a well deserved meal.


	12. Chapter 11  Return to Hogwarts

**A/N. this will be the last update for a few weeks as I am going on holiday for a week, so I hope you enjoy the chapter. Please review.**

**Chapter Eleven – Return to Hogwarts**

The rest of August passed more pleasantly, as usual they were invited to the Burrow for Ginny's birthday. Even though Ginny was initially a little distant with both of them, eventually she calmed down and seemed to be happy with the situation. Both Harry and Hermione had felt a little guilty and so had gone a little overboard with her present. Ginny however was over the moon with her new Firebolt. Predictably Ron was a little jealous and Molly felt that they had spent too much, but Harry told Ron to stop been a 'jealous git' and Hermione told Molly that it was fine and that they had far too much money as it was. Things were not helped by the news that Ron had not done as well as Molly had wanted on his OWL's, earning only five OWLS, and completely flunking potions. Apparently Molly had only just begun to speak to her youngest son once more and this was not helped by Ron seemingly not to care. Once everyone was placated an impromptu Quidditch match took place with Harry as the seeker on one team and Ginny on the other…Ginny's team lost, but only just.

As the month rolled on towards September, the couple's thoughts turned towards their return to Hogwarts, and the beginning of their NEWT years. Harry had decided to sit five NEWTS. Defence, Charms, Potions, Transfiguration and Herbology. Hermione was going to sit the same as Harry plus Arithmancy and Runes. Hermione had started her usual pre-school panic about studying, but Harry managed to calm her down stating that with their increased power things would be easier than before. She had argued that power wasn't the only thing, knowledge was also needed. It was only when Harry recited a whole chapter from one of her text books after only reading it the once that she realized that with her new power also came a greater ability to retain knowledge and she finally began to chill and enjoyed the last few days of the holidays. It seemed that they had both developed eidetic memories, but she had argued that they would still need to understand the information, and not just remember it. Harry agreed but finally they both decided that learning new things could wait until school. One thing did happen however that pleased Harry. After a visit from Madam Pomfrey, she decided that his leg had healed well enough for him to get rid of the walking stick. He still walked with a slight limp that she assured him would fade, but he was glad to be rid of the stick.

They spent their remaining time between the Grangers house and the Manor, although they did visit the villa in France for a weekend and to enjoy the private beach. They also spent a lot of time in the practice range in the manor, and were both pleased to see that there control over there magic was improving rapidly. They also felt even more powerful now that the wands had settled down and both were curious to see if there Quota scores had changed. They agreed to ask Professor Dumbledore of he could re-test them once they got to Hogwarts. Every evening was spent in meditation in order to find their animals. It was Hermione who finally found her animal first, emerging from her trance in a very excited state. She sat waiting for her husband to come around and as soon as he did she launched herself at him.

"Harry! Harry! I found her; she just came to me, and she's beautiful."

"What is she Mione?" Harry asked, slightly disappointed that he hadn't found his animal.

"She's a Snow Leopard, and she has the most beautiful green eyes and white coat."

Harry was very pleased for his wife, but warned her not to try to transform until they had spoken to Professor McGonagall.

A few days later Harry finally found his animal. He was excited and immediately found Hermione to tell her.

"Well what are you then?" she asked as he bounced up to her.

"A Tiger, but a white one, a bit like your Leopard. I also have green eyes." He said in a delighted voice.

"That's amazing, the fact we are both big cats is very rare. I can't wait to see Minerva and make the change."

Harry threw his arms around her and swung her around laughing as he did so.

"Put me down you big oaf" she giggled, but kissed him nonetheless. That night they once more came very close to breaking their promise, but had a good time anyway.

It was getting harder and harder to keep their promise to each other and Hermione's parents and Hermione had taken to ticking of the days until her seventeenth birthday in anticipation. They did however make up for it with plenty of other distractions as their love for each other and their confidence grew.

Finally the day arrived for them to visit Diagon alley to buy their school supplies. They had agreed to meet with the Weasleys at the Leaky Cauldron and they both 'phased' to the pub to meet them.

"What time did they say they would be here?" Hermione asked, as they say drinking their second Butterbeer.

"Eleven, but you know the Weasleys. Always late." Harry said with a grin.

Hermione just raised her eyebrow under her sunglasses that she had taken to wearing in public. Her newly changed eye-colour often attracted attention from those who knew her and she was a little fed up with the attention. Harry had tried arguing with her, saying that everyone knew about them already due to the article in the Prophet, but she still insisted on wearing them. Harry looked over at her in her sunglasses and sighed.

"Are you ashamed to be married to me?" he asked

Hermione looked up startled by the question. "No off course not, why do you ask?"

"Well you seem intent on covering up your eyes now that they match mine."

Hermione gasped as she realised how her actions could be misconstrued by Harry. She loved her new eye colour and was immensely happy to be married to Harry. With a small cry she ripped the glasses from her face and put them away. She reached across and took his face with both hands and kisses him lovingly.

"Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to think that. I'm just not used to the attention that they attract yet. I am very proud and happy to be married to you and I love my eyes. I promise I will only wear sunglasses when it's sunny in the future."

Harry smiled and took her hand. As they gazed into each other's emerald eyes, the floo erupted Weasleys as they all fell out into a large pile on the floor.

"Bloody stupid Floo, it's on the fritz again!" Ron grumbled as he extricated himself from his family. Eventually they all stood to reveal Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron and Ginny and the twins.

"Hi guys!" Harry said trying not to laugh at the sight in front of them. All of the Weasleys were covered in black soot which was slowly settling on the floor of the pub.

Mrs Weasleys was trying to clean the soot up, but was not having much luck, that was until Hermione pulled out her wand and cast a cleaning charm. Suddenly all six Weasleys were spotlessly clean, and any rips on their clothing had repaired themselves leaving the clothes looking as new. The red haired clan looked at Hermione in amazement.

"Whoops, sorry, bit too much power there!" she blushed

"Bloody Hell!" Ron whispered loudly. "Brilliant but scary!"

"Hermione, how did you do that?" Mr Weasley asked in awe.

"Er, well to be honest, I'm not sure. You see Harry and me...well we are a little more powerful now since we bonded."

"How much more powerful, what's your Quota scores?" he asked quietly

"Well we are both the same, which is unusual in itself, but when we were tested last we were 1335, but I guess we could be more now." She answered in a shy voice.

"WHAT!" Molly shrieked before everyone glared at her and she quietened down. "What? That's impossible, even Albus doesn't score that highly."

"We know, he was the one who tested us." Harry said.

"Blimey, if you're that powerful, why bother going back to school?" Ron asked.

With a glare Hermione answered. "Honestly Ronald, even if we are that powerful we still need to learn and to pass our NEWTs. Just because we are little more powerful doesn't give is any more knowledge." She chided, omitting the fact they both had an eidetic memory now due to the bond.

"Ok, jeez Hermione! I was just saying."

Hermione took a deep breath and looked at him. "Sorry Ron, you know how I am about learning and stuff. Now shall we have some lunch before we go shopping?"

Ginny had sat next to Harry looking sad whilst they waited for lunch.

"Gin, you okay?" Harry asked her quietly.

Ginny sighed and looked at the man she thought she had loved with a degree of loss. "Yeah Harry, I'm fine. Just a little lost you know? I'm happy for you and Hermione but I still think that I loved you a little bit, and I guess part of me always will."

"I'm sorry Gin, we both are." Harry whispered

"I know Harry, I don't blame you or her, but it still hurts. I guess until I sort my feelings out, I may be a little moody to be around. One thing is certain; I'm off the boyfriend market for the moment."

Just then the food arrived putting a halt to the conversation. Ginny smiled a weak smile at him as they all began to eat. After the meal everyone got up to go to do their shopping. It was decided that they would split up; the Twins were going back to their shop whilst Mr Weasley was going back to work. The remaining five wandered into the alley chatting amongst themselves. As soon as they entered the magical street they were assaulted by flashing cameras and shouting press, all wanting to talk to Harry and Hermione. Hermione looked startled and tried to hide behind Harry as they press shouted at them.

"Lord Potter, why did you marry so young?"

"Lord Potter, did she force you to marry her?"

"Lady Potter, is he good in bed?"

"Harry...is she pregnant?", this came from the mouth of the horrible Rita Skeeter.

Harry finally had enough and glaring at Rita, he raised his hands. "SHUT UP PLEASE! We are not giving any interviews except to the Quibbler. Now please let us shop in peace." As he spoke the magical wind began to whip up around him, and both he and Hermione began to glow a little. This was enough to scare most of the press away, and the sudden arrival of a couple of Aurors was enough to convince the rest.

Kingsley Shacklebolt walked up to the couple. "Sorry about that Harry, if you had told us you would be coming here today, we would of made sure that a guard was around to remove the worst of the press."

"That's okay sir, thank you for your help."

Kingsley snorted, "Harry, I'm not sure what help we were, you seem to be coping fine by yourself." He said as he looked at the glowing couple, Hermione hair was flying in the wind, which slowly died away and the glow left the couple.

With a sheepish grin Harry shrugged. "Sorry about that, it seems to happen when we're a little annoyed."

"Well I hope never to get you really pissed then" Kingsley said with a smile.

The rest of the Weasleys were looking at them both with a degree of awe and fear, especially after the conversation earlier about the increase in the couple's power. These two were the most powerful magical beings ever and if that what happened when Harry got annoyed, what the hell would happen if he got really pissed. With a nod Kingsley and his team apparated away, leaving a much calmer Alley.

"Come on then, let's get shopping. Where first?" Harry asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Well we need to go to Gringotts first to get some money, how about you two?" Molly asked.

"We are okay for money" Hermione replied a little embarrassed by the fact that money wasn't a problem for the couple any more. "We will go to Madam Malkins first. I need some new robes, so shall we meet at Flourish & Blotts later?"

"Sounds good, come on you two." The matriarch said as she strode of towards the bank. Ginny followed her with a smile and Ron tried to convince her that he didn't need to come too before she barked at him.

"Ronald Weasley, with your grades, I would not push anything at the moment. You were so close to having to repeat all of your OWL's. Now come along!" with a grimace Ron followed, leaving Harry and Hermione in peace.

"Wow, life is never dull is it love?" Hermione giggled

Harry snorted and took her hand as they walked towards the shop. As they got closer they were accosted by the Patil twins and Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones.

"Harry, Hermione...wow!" Susan shouted, stopping when she saw Hermione's eyes.

"Oh sweet Merlin Hermione, you look amazing. So the stories are true about you two?"

"Well that depends on what stories you mean Su", Hermione replied with a slight smile.

"Well that your married" came the response.

Hermione didn't even respond, she just held out her left hand and the four girls squealed as they saw her engagement and wedding ring.

"Oh wow Hermione that's beautiful. You are so lucky, how come you are married, I didn't even know you were dating?" Hannah asked.

"Long story, and not for now. If you would excuse us, we have shopping to do." Hermione replied as they walked into the shop.

"Huh, there not just married," Susan Bones huffed, "Bloody Soul Bonded if you ask me...lucky bitch!" she said with a small degree of envy. Susan had always quite liked Harry.

Harry had bought a new set of Robes as his old ones were a little small. He'd paid extra to have the Potter crest added and was delighted when Hermione also asked for the Potter crest to be added to the ones she was buying. She was getting three new sets as well as a dress that she had spotted – 'just in case they have another ball' she added. Once they had paid, and it was quite expensive as Harry had insisted that they got the best quality robes, they exited the shop. As they were leaving they were nearly bowled over by a young girl, who was excitedly entering the shop. She was small, with a small button nose and honey blonde hair. She was obviously a new first year and judging from both her excitement and the fact that her bemused parents were dressed in jeans, muggle born.

"Whoa there young miss, slow down or you'll hurt yourself." Harry smiled at her as she bumped into her legs. The youngster stopped and smiled at him.

"Sorry sir, just a bit excited...Wow, oh my God..." she started and her eyes widened as she recognised someone. Harry winced as he thought he knew what was coming next.

"You're...Oh God...your Hermione Granger!" the girl stuttered as she recognised her idol. "I've read all about you, you're the best muggleborn witch in well...ever! I just want to be like you, my name is Heidi, I've already read all my books and got my wand...I thought you had brown eyes." The girl spoke so fast that Harry was having trouble catching her words as her thoughts flitted from one to the next. Hermione was stunned that someone had read about her and was so pleased to see her.

"Now Heidi, what have we said about speaking so fast...remember to breath love." The young women said from behind her.

"Sorry Mum, but its Hermione, you know - the witch on the poster at home."

Harry looked at Hermione and giggled, "You're on a poster?" he mouthed at her.

Hermione shrugged and mouthed back "I didn't know" before turning to the young girl, who obviously idolised her so much. She bent down onto one knee and looked into Heidi's eyes. She could see a bright questioning intelligence there and knew that she may indeed be a contender for the brightest witch of the age. "Heidi, pleased to meet you, I'm Hermione. How are you." And she stuck her hand out for Heidi to take. Heidi suddenly became shy and looked down at the floor as she took her hand.

"Pleased to meet you" she whispered.

"I'm sure you will do very well at Hogwarts, but remember to write to your mum and dad, my parents are muggles too and it's very confusing for them. They are important to you and you have to tell them about how you are doing...and by the way, it's Hermione Potter now, and that's why my eyes are green." She said looking at Harry with her eyes. Heidi seemed to notice Harry for the first time and just looked at him in absolute awe.

"Wow, you're married to Hermione! You must be so lucky."

Harry couldn't help it, he laughed at the look on Hermione's face. It was so nice for the 'shoe to be on the other foot' for once.

Heidi's parents had watched the whole exchange with amused and slightly tired eyes. Having a daughter as brilliant as Heidi was tiring and now she was entering a world they could not. Harry could see the grateful look they were giving Hermione when she told their daughter to write home to them.

Harry walked over to them as Hermione chatted to Heidi about Hogwarts and Harry.

"You must be Heidi's parents. She seems brilliant. I'm Harry Potter" he said as he put out his hand.

"Daniel Hewitt, this is my wife Sarah." He said taking Harry hand. "It's made Heidi's day to meet your...wife?"

"Yes sir, we are married, but that is very unusual even in the Wizarding world to be married so young, so don't worry about Heidi. Unusual things have always happened to me."

"Well, Heidi will be in seventh heaven now. Your wife is all she speaks about, its Hermione this and Hermione that, at home. She so wants to be like your wife."

"Well judging by her intelligence, she will do fine sir."

Hermione stood and with one last handshake to the young girl they parted and went their separate ways. Harry was looking amused at his wife.

"Don't say a word Potter!" she growled. The effect was somewhat curtailed by the enormous look of pride in her face. She tried to look sternly at her husband's grinning face but finally she snorted out a belly laugh and soon they were both laughing out loud.

"The look...the look on your face when you realised it was me she wanted to talk to and not you...priceless." Hermione stuttered out.

"Ha! You should have seen the look on your face."

Hermione finally stopped laughing. "I like her though, she reminds me of me."

They had finally made it to Flourish and Bolts only to find the Weasleys not there. They waited for about fifteen minutes before Hermione got bored and asked to go into the shop.

"Ok, I'm sure that they will be along soon, let's go get our books for the year."

They had a great time – well Hermione did – looking at all the books and finally were just paying for the books when they heard the loud explosion followed by screams outside.

"Death Eaters!" Harry said. They both dropped their books and drew there wands.

"Stay indoors everyone, and defend yourself if needed." He shouted as they pair left the shop.

They exited the shop to find a scene of confusion outside. There was a lot of smoke around as it seemed that one of the shops was on fire. People were running away towards the pub and there were a number of people lying on the floor injured, either from the explosion or from spell damage.

A large group of black clad, mask wearing Death Eaters were terrorising the denizens as they tried to run. No one seemed to be fighting back, all just running or frozen to the spot like rabbits.

"Idiots, why don't they fight back?" Harry asked no one in particular, as he cast a spell to put out the fire that was raging in the shop.

They both ran towards the large group and began firing off stunning curses. Due to the power of the pair, the stunners caused the hit Death Eaters to fly backwards a good number of feet, some of them hitting walls with sickening crunches. None got up even when their companions tried to bring them round. As much as there was no resistance from the people of Diagon Alley, it seemed that this group of Death Eaters were very inexperienced, as they didn't seem to know how to cope if someone fought back. Soon Harry and Hermione had whittled their numbers down and only about a dozen remained fighting. As they fought Harry became aware that they had been joined by the Weasleys who were all firing spells at the Eaters. Whilst nowhere near as powerful as the spells of the couple this was enough to cause the remaining fighters to panic, and one by one, they began to flee leaving only two stood looking at the group.

Just then Hermione spotted the Hewitt's huddled on the ground. Sarah was obviously injured and bleeding. Her husband was holding her and bizarrely it was the eleven year old that was stood, wand drawn as if the protect her parents. The two Deatheaters saw the obviously muggle parents and sneered. Despite the fact that they were almost surrounded and defeated, intelligent thinking was not a high priority to be a Death Eater and as one they pointed there wands at the family.

"AVADA –KE..."

"NO!" screamed Hermione and without any conscious thought she phased from where she stood.

"..DAVERA!" and twin beams of green light shot from the wands, racing towards the family huddled in fear.

Silently Hermione appeared in front of the family and was immediately struck in the chest by the twin killing curses. The green light played around her body before fading. Hermione fell like a stone and everyone stopped for a few seconds. The Weasleys had their mouths open in horror, the Death Eaters were stunned by what they saw, and the Hewitt's huddled closer together in terror. The only person who hadn't stopped was Harry, as he looked at his fallen wife he turned to the would-be-killers and shouted.

"STUPEFY!" However he put a little too much power into the spell and the two Deatheaters flew backwards in tangle of limbs and landed with a crunch. Their bodies were contorted in a very unusual shape, obviously dead. He then ran to his fallen wife, ignoring the protest of Mrs Weasley who was trying to tell him to leave her as it was too late for her.

"Hermione! Mione! Come on love." He said slightly shaking his wife. Mrs Weasley had by now made it over to the couple.

"Harry, leave her. She got hit by two killing curses, she's gone. Come on love..."

Hermione took the opportunity to moan and flutter her eyelids, causing Molly to scream and out her hands to her mouth.

"Sweet Merlin...how?"

Hermione finally came around and looked up at the two faces looking down on her.

"Sorry Harry, I must have fainted. Your right though, it does tickle." As she sat up, completely unharmed Mrs Wesley looked as if she was about to faint, and she sat down on the floor before she fell.

"That's okay love, you were brilliant though. And struck by two at once, no wonder you fainted."

Molly Weasley was looking at the pair as if they were mad. Hermione had just survived been struck by two killing curses and they were talking as if were nothing more than a wasp sting. As she starred they became aware that the Aurors had arrived and were trying to wake up the stunned Death Eaters after binding them first. This was easy enough for the ones stunned by the Weasleys, but the others were presenting more a problem for them. Also they were looking at the two dead ones with concerned looks. Healers had arrived and were tending to the injured. Once came over to Sarah Hewitt and healed her injuries much to the shock of her and her husband. Heidi looked on in happiness at her parents, who were telling her that she was very brave for trying to protect them.

Kingsley walked over to the group and saw Harry.

"Lord Potter, Is this your handiwork?" he asked with a grin, "I've read the report from the French, they were very impressed with your stunners, took them hours to wake the bastards up. Err, about the two dead ones?"

"Stunners sir, but I was a little annoyed, they had just tried to kill my wife. You may check my wand if you need."

The tall Auror nodded and took his wand, a little while later he confirmed that Harry had cast nothing stronger that a stunner. He handed Harry his wand back and nodded.

"Well, thanks Harry, any chance you could erm wake 'em up please?"

With a grin Harry waved his wand and the stunned Death eaters all started to groan as they woke. The Aurors soon had them bound and with a final wave at Harry they quickly apperated away with them, as well as the bodies, and soon the rest to the alley slowly returned to normal. Normal except for the Weasley's who were looking at Harry and Hermione with awe and some fear. The Hewitt parents were looking confused but proud of their daughter, but Heidi was looking at Hermione with a look that was now akin to total absolute devotion.

"Wow, that was totally awesome! What were those green lights that hit you?"

Hermione was blushing and looked at the Weasley's before answering. "Er, that's difficult to explain. Why do we speak when we get to school? You need to get your parents' home; I think they need a drink."

Heidi looked over at her mum and dad, and nodded an agreement. "You may be right. You really mean you will talk to me at school?" she gushed.

Hermione nodded and watched as the happy young girl practically dragged her bewildered parents away.

Mrs Weasley had watched the scene in uncharacteristic silence, somehow aware that Hermione didn't want either the Auror's to know about the killing curses or the young family to be aware of just how close they came to death. She was, however struggling to keep silent and was turning a bright red colour.

"Hermione Jean Granger…."

"Potter!"

"…Potter, just how are you still alive?" she asked without breaking stride at the interruption.

Hermione looked around to see if anyone was listening before leaning in to the older woman. "Soul Bond!" was all she said.

"What? What does that mean?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and leant in once more, "Harry and I share souls, if only one of us is hit, then the other protects the other. If we are both hit at the same time, then it's goodnight Vienna."

"Oh! …oh I see, Well don't do it again, you scared me half to death young lady"

Hermione smiled and hugged the elder woman before looking around.

"Well Harry and I still need to get our books, we ran out leaving them on the counter."

They all walked slowly back to the book shop and whilst the Weasley's hunted for their books they two young lovers finished paying for their books. They soon all left the book shop and said their goodbyes. The Weasley's walked to the pub to use the floo whilst Harry and Hermione 'phased' back to the manor. As soon as they arrived Harry pulled Hermione into a hug.

"Don't do that again. My heart nearly stopped when you took those curses."

"Yeah it scared me as well, but you saw Heidi. I couldn't let those evil bastards kill her could I?"

"She reminds me of you, brilliant and brave. I bet she'll be in Gryffindor."

"Yeah, she'll be brilliant. Thank you Harry."

"What for?" he asked.

"Stopping those Death Eaters and for not allowing me to freeze like last time."

"You were awesome, but rumours of our powers will be out now, there were loads of people to witness that."

Harry sat for a while before starting to giggle to himself.

"What are you giggling at Harry?" Hermione asked.

"You're face when little Heidi mentioned a poster of you."

"I didn't even know they made posters of me, where the hell did they get the picture from, and why me?"

"Oh please! The brightest most amazing witch of our age, I wonder if I can get one? "Harry mused, earning a cushion in the face from an embarrassed Hermione.

"Prat! Harry, how are we going to get to Hogwarts? Train or Phase?" she asked desperate to change the subject.

"Train of course; you are a prefect after all, so you will need to be at the meeting on the train."

"Oh hell, I'd forget about that. Of course we will have to catch the train."

"Who do you think will be the new potions master? Or the Defence teacher this year?" Harry asked

"Well I hope that whoever they get they are better than the last lot we had. Umbitch was a nightmare and well Snape….." Hermione replied before they snuggled down for a cuddle.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

Finally the first of September arrived and the day to return to Hogwarts. Harry and Hermione were ready in plenty of time and had spent their last day of the holidays at Hermione's parents' house. Unlike the years in the past, Roger and Jean were going to say there goodbyes at home as Harry and Hermione were planning on 'phasing' directly to the platform.

"See you at Christmas Mum, We'll both write plenty and yes, we will be careful."

"You do that love, and remember we love you..both!"

Harry subtly wiped the tear from his eye at this declaration, unused to the love of a parent figure.

He shook Roger's hand and hugged Jean briefly.

Jean took her daughter in her arms and kissed her cheek. She looked into her daughters green eyes and smiled despite the tears.

"Take care love, don't make me a grandmother just yet." She whispered to Hermione.

Hermione blushed at her mother's comments, "We won't mum, love you."

With a last wave, the pair silently phased away, shrunken trunks in their arms.

They arrived at the platform to see the beautiful red steam train waiting on the platform. Their arrival went mostly unnoticed, mostly that was apart from Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbot; who surprisingly was holding his hand. Both had shocked looks on their face as they contemplated the pairs method of arrival.

"Cool! Hey you two, how are you? Congratulations by the way." Neville called out.

"Thanks Nev, looks like you also need some words of congratulations." Harry replied eyeing the pairs joined hands.

Smiling shyly Nev looked at Hannah. "She said yes Harry!" he whispered, amazed that anyone would want to be his girlfriend.

"Fool, of course I said yes, I've wanted you to ask for years now, I was starting to think you'd never ask." Hannah said with a smile as she place a chaste kiss of Neville's lips. They all laughed and slowly made their way to the train. Picking an empty carriage they placed there bags on the shelves above the seats and made themselves comfy. Soon they were joined by Ron, who was holding Luna's hand and Ginny, who was looking a little lonely as she looked at the three couples. Harry raised an eyebrow at Ron as he sat with Luna.

"Ok, yes, I asked her and she said yes. Let's not make a fuss about it shall we." Ron replied to the unasked question. Luna just smiled at everyone and moved to sit on his knee.

"Now Ronald, let's play nice otherwise the Nargles will come for you." She said with an airy voice and a dreamy smile. As Ron looked confused, Luna looked over at Harry and Hermione and both were shocked when they saw her wink at them, before she turned back to look at her new boyfriend. Ginny soon made some excuse and left to see her year mates.

As the six sat, conversation was pleasant and unimportant. No one really mentioned Harry and Hermione's new marital status although the two other girls examined her ring with tears in their eyes. Soon the conversation was interrupted by the door banging open and revealing Draco and his two slabs of meat stood with him. Draco was pointing his wand at Harry and was looking very annoyed.

"Potter! I am calling you out in a wizarding dual, as soon as we can at the school. You lost me my girlfriend and I demand satisfaction."

Harry was amazed by the gall of the idiot. "Draco, last time I whipped your arse and I didn't even have a wand that was working with me. Are you really sure you want to do this?"

Draco paled at the information that Harry had beaten him without a working wand but his stupid pride kicked in long before any common sense had a chance to kick in.

"Potter, dual as soon as we can. Winner gets to break the loser wand."

"Fine Ferret, fine." Harry said, annoyed that Draco would still go ahead. Draco slammed the door and left the compartment in silence before Hermione burst out laughing.

"Oh this will be fun, Draco doesn't stand a chance. I just hope he has the money to buy a new wand."

"How can you be so sure that Harry will win?" Hannah asked, slightly afraid of Draco.

With a look at Harry who nodded, Hermione turned to Hannah. "Please keep this quite but Harry and I are a little more powerful now than we were before."

"How much more powerful?" Hannah asked.

"There Quota scores are over a thousand!" Ron blurted out.

"Ronald!" Luna scolded him and swiped his arm.

"Wow! Really?" Hannah breathed eyes wide.

Harry and Hermione nodded shyly.

"Poor Draco!" Hannah said before bursting out laughing, that soon everyone joined in. Hermione and Ron left briefly to have the prefects meeting and after a quick patrol of the train returned to the compartment.

Soon they were pulling in at the station at Hogsmeade and disembarking. The sound of Hagrid shouting for the first years made them all smile. After a quick wave at the young Heidi Hewitt who was looking like she was about to burst from excitement, they all got into one of the carriages and soon were walking up to the main doors of the school.

"Well were back, I wonder if this year is going to be any quieter than before?" Harry asked with a wry grin.


	13. Chapter 12 Duals and Rooms

**Sorry for the delay, been on my holidays. anyway enjoy, we are getting closer to the crux of the story.**

**Chapter 12 – Duals and rooms**

The friends slowly made their way to the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony and the feast. Hermione was holding Harrys hand tightly as people were staring at the pair as they walked towards the Gryffindor table.

"It will be fine Mione, just ignore them." Harry told her, aware of her discomfort through there bond.

"Is this what it's always like for you?" She asked him.

"Yup! But you learn to ignore it, just keep your head high and don't let them get to you." He replied, stroking the back of her hand with one of his fingers.

The eventually made their way to the Gryffindor table and found some room next to each other. They were soon joined by Ron, Ginny and Neville and they sat and chatted for a little while; whilst the rest of the students found a seat. Ron and Neville had said goodbye to their respective girlfriends and they had made their way to their own tables.

"Hey Harry, is the news true? You married now?" Seamus asked; his Irish accent even stronger having spent the summer at home.

"Yeah Harry, you and Hermione hitched?" Dean asked.

Harry sighed and looked at Hermione who smiled a little at him before shrugging her shoulders and looking up at the two boys. As both Harry and Hermione looked up they could see the rest of the Gryffindor table as well as a large number of students from the other tables looking at the pair with expectant eyes, although some of the girls were glaring at Hermione.

"Holy Shit! Your eyes Hermione!" Dean gasped.

Hermione rolled her green eyes at him. "Why do people always say that?" she muttered to herself before Harry spoke.

"Yes its true, Hermione and I are married and we will be staying in married quarters now. Professor McGonagall says that they are part of the Gryffindor tower, so we will still see you all. And yes Hermione has green eyes now, just like mine."

"Let's see the ring Hermione!" Lavender shouted.

Hermione silently lifted her hand so the girl could see the ring and she was immediately surrounded by a gaggle of females all cooing at the beautiful ring on her left hand.

"Way to go Harry! Is she pregnant?" Seamus asked with a smirk on his face. Faster than he could blink, a wand was pointing at his throat and he looked into a pair of green eyes flashing with anger.

"NO SEAMUS, she is not pregnant, and if I hear anyone say that again there will be trouble. If you must know Hermione saved my life and we became married afterwards. "

Seamus gulped and sweat broke out on his forehead. "S-s-sorry Harry, no offence mate"

Harry slowly lowered his wand and finally pocketed it before sitting back down. The rest of the table let out a collected intake of breath. They were all amazed by the speed that Harry had moved, and if they were honest, a little scared.

Harry looked over towards the Slytherin table and saw Malfoy glaring at him. Malfoy slowly lifted his hand and drew it across his throat. Harry just smiled back at him. Interestingly a number of Slytherin had moved themselves away from Malfoy and his goons, most noticeably Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davies and Blaise Zabini. Pansy actually smiled at Harry, the smile looking odd on he normally dour faced girl.

The conversations broke as Professor McGonagall led in the small band of new first years to the front of the hall for the sorting. As they passed the tables Hermione could see little Heidi waving at her. She smiled back and put up her thumb. Heidi grinned and turned to speak to another girl stood with her. Both turned and giggled before waving and then looked up at the deputy head.

Professor Dumbledore stood and walked to the front of the raised platform.

"Welcome students, both old and new. Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I will have some announcements after the sorting but for now let's get our new first years sorted."

Professor McGonagall stood and opened a parchment of names.

"I will call your name and you will sit on the stool, I will place the hat on your head and it will sort you into your house."

As she said this the hat was brought in and sung its unusual song. Once more it sang about the dark days to come and the importance of school unity. Bizarrely it also sang about a threat to magic and that the fate of all magic rested on two hero's.

"Mad that thing is, bloody mad!" Ron whispered to Harry, earning a glare from Hermione.

Professor McGonagall also glared at Ron causing him to gulp before she held up the parchment and called out the first name on the list.

"Christopher Allan!"

The young student came forward and nervously sat on the stool as the hat was placed on his head. After a few moments the hat shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!" and with a cheer the new 'Puff went to his table. The sorting continued with Gryffindor gaining three new students, Hufflepuff another four and Slytherin and Ravenclaw three apiece. Finally it was Heidi's turn, and with fingers clearly crossed she sat on the stool. Even from where they were sat, Harry and Hermione could clearly hear her muttering "Gryffindor, please be Gryffindor" under her breath.

As soon as the hat was on her head it almost immediately shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" Heidi was so pleased that she ran to the table with the hat still on her head. "OI! PUT ME BACK!" it shouted.

Blushing madly she walked back and sheepishly handed the hat back to the deputy head who took it with a smile. Heidi ran back to the table and sat down to the cheers and laughs of the rest of her table.

Finally the sorting was finished and whilst Professor McGonagall left to take the sorting hat back, the Headmaster stood to address the school. Before he had the chance to speak, Malfoy stood and shouted.

"I demand a Wizarding dual with Potter, as is my right. He caused me to lose my girlfriend and I demand satisfaction."

Everyone started to talk at once, Pansy looking at Malfoy with a look of pure disgust.

"Silence!" came the shout from the Headmaster. "Mr. Malfoy, you know that Wizarding dual are prohibited at Hogwarts."

"Yes sir, but the challenge was issued on the train, and therefore the challenge is legal. Winner gets to snap the loser's wand." Malfoy replied with a sneer.

Professor Dumbledore turned to Harry and asked, "Is this true Mr Potter?"

"Yes sir, the Ferret challenged me on the train." He replied calmly.

With a sigh Albus put his head into his hands. "Mr Malfoy, are you sure you wish to do this?"

"Yes sir!" he replied his face going red at the 'ferret' comment.

"Very well, since the challenge was issued before term officially started, I have no option but to allow this duel. However, standard duelling rules will apply - no unforgivables and no dark spells."

The murmur of conversation rose to a loud roar as Professor Dumbledore conjured a long duelling platform at the front of the hall. As he worked Professor McGonagall came back into the hall looking agitated.

"Albus, what is happening here?"

"Young Mr Malfoy has demanded a Wizarding duel, as he made the challenge whilst on the train, I have no authority to refuse his request."

"Are you mad? You must stop this, someone may get hurt. Malfoy is reasonably powerful and could easily hurt someone. He will not abide by the rules you know. Who has he challenged?"

"Mr Potter."

Minerva paused and finally shrugged. "Oh well that's different. I alert Madam Pomfrey to expect Mr Malfoy soon."

With a slight grin Albus finished making the preparations. "Mr Malfoy, Mr Potter, are you ready?"

Harry had walked over to one end of the platform and had removed his robes. He was stood with his wand casually held in his hand. Meanwhile Draco had strutted up to his end of the platform and was already pointing his wand at Harry. He had brought his two slabs of meat with him and they were stood to either side of him looking confused.

"Ready sir." Harry replied.

"Ready! Prepare to meet pain tonight Potter!" Draco replied.

Harry actually laughed at his comment and looked over to his headmaster for the count.

"Remember, no Dark spells and no Unforgivables. 3-2-…."

Before he had chance to complete the countdown, Malfoy had already cast a Reducto at Harry. Harry was expecting this and immediately cast a shield spell. This shield was glowing gold and slowly evolved into a total sphere that surrounded Harry. Meanwhile Draco was casting spell after spell at Harry in an attempt to break his shield. Every spell however impacted on the shield and fizzled away. The two slabs of meat, with an intelligence no one knew they possessed realised that Harry was far stronger then Malfoy and had begun to edge away from the blonde wizard.

Harry had meanwhile conjured an armchair and had taken a seat; he then conjured a copy of the Quibbler and was reading the paper in a very nonchalant way, much to the amusement of the rest of the students.

"Draco, have we started yet? I sure I haven't heard the Headmaster say 'one' yet." He taunted.

"Potter! Fight dam you! Are you coward?" Malfoy screamed, getting more and more annoyed as every spell he cast was harmlessly absorbed by the glowing shield.

"What? Sorry Draco, I still haven't heard the Headmaster start the duel yet. It seems that you may have jumped the gun so to speak."

"Potter, fight me you Mudblood loving coward."

Harry had now started to drink a cup of tea as he sat in his bubble and he was waving at the audience, a big grin on his face.

Malfoy was getting more desperate. If he was thinking clearly he would have realized that the shield that Harry had created was so powerful that it had absorbed every spell he could throw at it, marking Harry as one powerful wizard. If he was thinking clearly this fact would of scared him and he would not have done what he did next, however he was desperate for Harry to start to fight so he could show him who was the stronger. Eyes narrowing Draco decided that if Harry wouldn't fight him then maybe he would fight to save his bitch. He suddenly pointed his wand at Hermione and shouted "**DIFFINDO**!"

The spell shot towards Hermione who quickly and wandlessly cast a shield causing the spell to ricochet up to the rafters where it disturbed Peeves who was watching the show.

The effect on Harry however was sudden and severe. The shield bubble vanished with a loud pop, causing Draco to turn back to him with a smile. He thought his plan had worked and Harry would fight and lose to him. The smile didn't last long however as Harry turned to his opponent with death in his eyes. His green eyes had taken on an eerie green glow and a magical wind had blown up around him. Harry actually floated above the platform and flew towards Malfoy. Draco was casting cutting spells at him all of them hitting Harry's body and limbs; but all just cast a glow around him before fading. Malfoy was now finally afraid as Harry moved closer to him. When Harry got to about ten feet from him he stopped and cocked his head a little as he gazed at the blonde Slytherin stood in front of him with a slightly puzzled look; they way a person may look at a slightly interesting bug they had found. Harry was aware of a sudden scrapping noise from behind him as some of his fellow Gryffindor's were suddenly moving away from Hermione who had also stood. Her eyes were glowing the same green glow and her hair was blowing widely in a magical wind that had sprung up around her. She was holding her wand at Draco and had a look of extreme anger on her face.

Harry looked at Malfoy, who had by now become desperate and finally did the unthinkable.

"CRUCIO!" he shouted in panic and the yellow light shot the short distance towards Harry. Professor Dumbledore shouted "NO!" and the rest of the school screamed as the curse hit Harry, however it seemed not to have any effect other than causing Harry to grit his teeth. Harry waved his hand and the spell broke and dissipated leaving one very pissed Harry Potter. Malfoy looked in horror at his nemesis still standing in front of him. Suddenly Harry moved and cast a half dozen spells in a matter of seconds. The first caused Malfoy to fly backwards where he landed with a crunch. The second and third broke both his legs, and remainder caused tentacles and boils to erupt on his body as well as causing him to grow large donkey ears. Harry slowly walked over to him.

"Draco Malfoy, if you ever cast a spell like that at my wife again I swear I will kill you where you stand."

As he looked at the young Deatheater-in-waiting laid before him he once more saw a trickle of yellow liquid coming from the fallen man. This time however it was accompanied by an unpleasant smell as the contents of Malfoy's bowels exited suddenly. Harry laughed a quick laugh as the rest of the hall laughed and moved away from Malfoy to avoid the stench.

"Malfoy, clean yourself up. You stink!" and he turned and slowly walked back towards the table, and without a backward glance he pointed his wand over his shoulder and suddenly Malfoy's wand rose up into the air and snapped into many pieces before the shards flew over the prone teen. Harry carried on walking in silence before he still stood wife and embraced her. The magical wind surrounding her died away and he held her. The hall was silent as they watched Harry walk slowly towards his wife and embrace her; that was until Ron stood and slowly began to clap. Soon Dean and Seamus also stood and started to clap. This was the start of a wave of people standing and soon practically the whole hall was stood clapping. Harry looked down at Hermione and soundly kissed her, to hoots and catcalls from the hall.

"I love you!" he whispered into her ear.

"I know" came the reply.

Over at the Slytherin table most were pleased by the results, with only a few fledgling Death eaters not happy. Pansy finally stood and walked to the prone body of her ex-boyfriend. She stood over him for a while and then viciously kicked him in between the legs.

"That was for you hurting me!" she kicked him again, "And that was for trying to rape me you bastard." Tears were streaming down her face as she turned and to the surprise of the hall, walked over to Harry. Harry broke the hold he had on Hermione and looked at the distraught woman. Pansy looked at Hermione first and a look passed between the two women. After an almost imperceptible nod from the Gryffindor woman, Pansy threw her arms around Harry and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you Potter for saving me from a life of pain. I owe you a debt, and I will not forget it." She sobbed. Tracey Davies had come over and placed her arms around the sobbing girl and gently took her out of the hall. Meanwhile a house elf had been summoned and had taken Malfoy to the hospital ward for treatment.

Finally everyone settled down, but not until after Heidi had said in a very loud voice, "That was awesome!" causing a small titter of laughter to flow around the large room.

"Well…er yes, that was interesting. Let's all eat and then I will speak some more." The headmaster announced, and the tables were suddenly full of food.

Everyone at the Gryffindor table was looking at both Harry and Hermione in awe. "Bloody hell mate that was amazing." Ron said, and this broke the silence causing everyone to ask questions at once.

"How did you do that shield?"

"Why didn't that curse hurt you?"

"Just how powerful are you both?"

"What's with the glowing eyes?"

"ENOUGH! Please. Can we just eat please?" Harry cried, unwilling to answer any questions. He could feel the residual pain from the Cruciatus curse coursing through his body. It had been all he could do to ignore it but he was also aware that Hermione could feel it as well through there bond, and this had pissed him off even more than his own pain. He had briefly thought about killing Malfoy but this urge was quickly suppressed. He was better than that and felt slightly ashamed of the feeling. The pain was quickly subsiding as his increased power allowed his body to heal much quicker than normal. He could feel Hermione's magic also soothing her pain away, and this made him feel better. Eventually he felt well enough to eat a small amount. He could however feel the eyes of the whole school on him and Hermione throughout the whole meal. Eager to get away from everyone, he was pleased when the meal was over and Dumbledore stood for the final time.

"Now I would normally do this the other way around but due to our evening's activities I felt we all could do with some food. I now have a few announcements. Mr Filch has posted an even longer list of banned items and this will be posted in every common room. The forbidden forest is just that – forbidden and that applies to everyone. Now I have a few happier things to tell you. First of all we have a new potions teacher as Professor Snape has taken a year off…."

This caused a cheer from three of the tables and groans from the forth.

"…. Would you all please welcome Professor Horace Slughorn who has agreed to teach potions this year. Also I am delighted to welcome…."

The two great oak doors burst open and to everyone's surprise a figure stomped in, one leg made of wood, and a large swivelling false eye on his face.

"…. Well as you can see, your new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher is the REAL Alastor Moody, who had also agreed to be temporary Head of Slytherin house."

"HA, I bet you snakes were not expecting that!" Moody shouted. "And don't expect me to go easy on you the same way Sniverlus did. Good work Potter on the Ferret…yes I know about that, about the only thing that bloody imposter did that I agreed with." And he stomped to the table at the top and shook Albus's hand before stomping over to the snakes table.

"Well yes, thank you Alastor. Well that is all, could the prefects take the first years to the dorms and everyone else make their own way. Could Mr and Mrs Potter meet me in my office in ten minutes? Goodnight everyone."

The hall slowly emptied to the shouts of, "First years follow me!" from various Prefects.

Harry turned to look at Hermione.

"Are you okay love?" he asked her

"You know I am; what I feel you feel. I can't believe the idiot would have done that; he will have to be arrested for casting an unforgivable and if Pansy pressed charges of attempted rape then he is in a lot of trouble. I'm surprised you didn't kill him"

"I nearly did, but then I thought I couldn't fall to their level, so I restrained myself."

"You're a good man Harry, what do you think Professor Dumbledore wants?"

"Not sure, I guess he wants to talk about Malfoy, shall we go?"

They both walked hand in hand towards the Headmasters office. As they got to the gargoyle that guarded the entrance it opened for them automatically and they both entered the spiral staircase that would take them up to the office. Knocking on the door they waited until they heard, "Enter" pushing open the door they were greeted by not only Professor Dumbledore but also Professor McGonagall and Mad-eye Moody.

"Ah Harry and Hermione, come in, please take a seat, Lemon drop?" they both refused and sat in the two chairs indicated.

"Now Harry, before I ask Minerva to show you both to your married quarters I have a few things we need to discuss. First of all is your dual with young Mr Malfoy..."

"Did well there Potter, showed good restraint but a lot of power when needed. Bit showy for me and I would have killed the scumbucket..."

"Moody! Stop encouraging him." Professor McGonagall admonished. Albus smiled before continuing.

"Well yes, it was a superb show of magic, and you showed remarkable restraint Harry. I have to inform you that Mr Malfoy is still in the hospital ward and will be there for some time. It seems no one can break the last three spells you cast. It also seems that as well as the er... donkey ears he also can only bray like a donkey. Madam Pomfrey has said she would be grateful is you would banish the spells so she can treat him."

Harry grinned a little and with a small wave of his hand he finished the charms. "Ok done"

The three adults all looked at Harry in surprise. He did not seem to understand the show of power he had just demonstrated by banishing the spells at such distance and without a wand as well.

"Well thank you Harry. I also have to tell you that the Aurors have been informed and that Mr Malfoy is under arrest for casting an unforgivable curse at you as well as charges of attempted rape. If found guilty he will be removed from school and will may have to go to prison. Due to his age this may be deferred for a few years. Even for this crime we do not send children to Azkaban. Now on to other matter. I think that it would be prudent for us to test your Quota scores again. As your bond grows and strengthens, so will your power. You need to know the extent of your power so you do not accidently hurt someone."

"Yes sir, we also felt that this would be a good idea. When would you like us to do this?" Hermione answered.

"Well tomorrow morning would be a good idea. You both have the same classes in the morning; double Defence and then a charms class. If you could both be at the defence classroom half an hour before class then Alastor and I will test you."

Both teens nodded to this, causing Albus and Mad-eye to grin. 'This would be an interesting test' Mad -eye thought.

Albus cleared his throat and continued. "I also believe it would be prudent not to advertise your new abilities too much. This may be hard to do, especially after tonight's little show, but I would ask that you try. How are you both getting on with the Animagus training?"

"Sir, we both have found our animals and are keen to try the transformation." Harry replied.

"Good, then I would suggest that later tomorrow you both speak to Minerva who can guide you through the next step. If there are no questions? Then I will bid you both goodnight. Minerva if you could show them both to their new room please."

Everyone stood up and the two teens followed the deputy headmistress out of the room. As they walked she turned to the couple.

"So, what are your animals then?" she asked curiously.

Harry grinned at Hermione before turning to the older woman. "It's a surprise, but we hope you will be pleased."

Professor McGonagall gave a rare grin before composing herself. "I need both of you to meet me tomorrow afternoon. You have a free period after lunch and we can start the process then. Is this acceptable to you both?"

They both nodded eager to begin the transformation process.

"Don't be concerned if you cannot begin the transformation at first. It may take many months of practice to complete the process, It took me nearly nine months to make the complete change once I found my cat." She told them.

By now they had made their way to the seventh floor and had stopped outside the entrance to the common room. Professor McGonagall made them follow her for a little way down past the portrait to another picture. This one was of a pair of owls flying in formation over the castle.

"This is the entrance to your rooms. Just say the password and it will allow you access, you will need to set a password first though."

Harry looked at Hermione with a smile and then looked up at his head of house.

"Green eyes, please"

With a small smile Professor McGonagall waved her wand and motioned for either of them to open the entrance.

"Green-eyes!" Heroine said in a quiet voice. The portrait silently opened and allowed them access to the rooms beyond. They entered into a smaller version of the Gryffindor common room complete with roaring fire and soft leather sofas. There was a couple of writing tables in one corner and to Hermione's delight a large bookcase complete with books. The room was painted in the gold and reds of Gryffindor and on one wall was a large window showing the grounds and the lake in the distance. Leading off from the main room was a large comfortable looking bedroom complete with a massive four poster bed, and off from the bedroom was a bathroom complete with a bath large enough for the two of them as well as a walk-in shower. Both items caused the two teens to blush at the promises both items held, as the deputy headmistress showed them around.

Once they were back in the main room, she showed them a small wooden door that lead to the main Gryffindor common room. Only they could see the door at the other side and only invited guests could enter their rooms but no one other then the two of them would be allowed to spend the night.

"I trust these rooms meet your satisfaction?"

"Yes maam" Harry replied, eager to get some time alone with his wife.

"In that case I wish you goodnight, and I will see you tomorrow at breakfast. I will have your full timetable then." And she left the pair alone.

"Wow, we have our own rooms Harry!" Hermione gushed.

"Yeah, great innit!. Now come here and give me a kiss. I've missed you all day."

Hermione ran over to him and the pair embraced, the kiss was long and deep and soon the pair were glowing a golden colour. Before things could get any more passionate they were interrupted by two 'pops' and Dobby and Baxter appeared in front of them.

"Baxter, Dobby; you scared us. How may we help?" Hermione asked, slightly annoyed to be interrupted.

Baxter cleared his throat and spoke first.

"Lord..erm sorry, Harry...sir. I am pleased that you have arrived at Hogwarts safely. I am just here to tell you that we will look after the manor for you and look forward to seeing you in the holiday. I took the liberty of hiring this eager young elf that appeared on our doorstep desperate to work for you. He has agreed to be your elf whilst at Hogwarts. I have also taken the liberty to freshen up your other properties. The house in Australia has not been used for a very long time as neither of your parents ever visited. We have updated all the furniture and decorations and it is now habitable...sir. We have hired elves to look after the other properties with exception of the house in France; that we will look after from the manor. I hope this is acceptable sir?"

"Thank you Baxter that all sounds brilliant, and we know Dobby very well and he is most welcome." Harry replied.

Dobby was practically bouncing up and down in excitement, much to the annoyance of Baxter. Elves were supposed to behave with much more decorum than this young pup was showing.

"Master Harry Sir, Dobby is honoured to work for such a wonderful powerful wizard as Master Harry and his Mistress Potter"

"Dobby that's nice, but please you need to calm down. We would love to have you work for us. For now do you think you could work with the Hogwarts elves and we will call you when we need something?"

"Dobby would be honoured sir." And with that he vanished leaving an amused Harry and Hermione and a slightly miffed Baxter.

"I apologise sir, he needs to learn better manners and how to speak properly. I will endeavour to educate him as soon as possible. With you permission I will return to the manor, my Ivy is cooking dumplings tonight, and I must admit to been a little partial to her dumplings." With a pop he vanished leaving Harry struggling to stand as he laughed and the little elves unintentional double-entendre.

"Harry, behave, you know he didn't mean that!" Hermione scolded him, even thought she had a wide grin on her face.

"S-s-sorry, but he just makes me laugh. He reminds me so much of that butler on the Batman films."

"Oh so does that make you Batman Mr Potter? Or should I say Mr Wayne?" Hermione teased.

"Oh no, I'm just Harry." He replied with a sad smile

"Never! Your never just Harry to me, your my world" and with that comment things got a lot more passionate, as the couple took themselves of to bed for the night.


	14. Chapter 13  The calm before the Storm

**Sorry for the delay with this chapter, been ill with a horrible cold and work is busy. Anyway enough of the excuses, her is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy and please review.**

**Chapter Thirteen – The calm before the storm**

The couple woke up feeling refreshed and alert the following morning. Both woke at the same time and spent a few seconds gazing into each other's eyes before making their way to the large bathroom. Deciding that there wasn't enough time for a soak, the both showered together, taking plenty of time to admire and play with each other's bodies. A few earth shattering orgasms later they were dressed and ready for an early breakfast. They had both decided that they would get to the classroom early, so they were one of the first down for breakfast.

"You do know that Mad-eye will try to surprise us don't you?" Hermione asked Harry

"Off course he will - Constant Vigilance and all that. Let's try to surprise him however."

"What do you suggest?" Hermione asked, her curiosity peaked.

"Well, I've been thinking about something. You know when we 'phase' to a place. Just before we arrive, I've started to get a brief image of the destination before we become solid. I was thinking if we concentrate hard enough then we can hold ourselves in the 'other' place but still interact with it. We should be totally invisible to everyone, even Mad-eye's magic eye."

"Hmm, that's sounds intriguing. Should be try it first?"

"Yeah that's sound like a good idea. If we get there as Dumbledore and Mad-eye arrive, we should be able to startle them. Do you think you know how to do it?"

Hermione screwed her face up as she concentrated. "Yeah, I think so. I also wondered why I got a brief flash of where we are going. If we can do this it would be very useful when 'phasing' to areas that may contain Muggles."

They continued to eat, joined shortly by a sleepy looking Ron and a smiling Ginny.

"Morning you two, what are you doing up so early?" Ron yawned at them.

"Morning Ron. We have a meeting with the Headmaster and Mad-eye before lessons begin."

"Why?" Ginny asked.

"Well Dumbledore thinks we need to be re-tested. He believes that we are even more powerful than the last time now that things have settled down. I think Mad-eye wants to come along to check up on us."

"Cool! What do you think you will score at?" Ginny asked with wide eyes.

"No idea, but it will be fun to find out, and we are thinking of pranking them both."

"How?" Ron yawned, whilst heaping his plate full of food.

"Not sure yet, but we will let you know. Anyway we had better be going, By the way you two, make sure you are outside at lunchtime, you won't want to miss what is going to happen." Hermione replied.

Harry looked at her with a confused look, but she merely smiled at him and took his hand to go back to their quarters to get ready. As they walked along the corridor he turned to her.

"What are you planning?"

"Never you mind Mr. Potter." She said with a smile.

Soon they were ready to leave for the Defence class. "You sure about this Harry?"

"Yeah, you?"

"I think so. Shall we try?"

Harry nodded and took her hand. They both concentrated and blinked out of existence.

Meanwhile in the defence classroom, Mad-eye was getting ready for the class and for the Potter's test. As he moved all the chairs and desks away with a flick of his wand he heard a knock on the door. The door opened and Professor Dumbledore entered.

"Good morning Alastor, I trust you are well?"

"Albus," the ex-Auror nodded, "I'm well, you?"

"Tolerable, Are you ready for the Potters?"

"Yes all ready Albus."

As they chatted, Harry and Hermione semi-phased into the room. Harry looked around and saw that everything was clear but without colour apart from Hermione. The voices seemed a little 'off' but other than that he felt fine. It was clear that neither Mad-eye or the Headmaster could see them. He looked over at Hermione and say that she was okay and smiling at him.

#You okay?# he asked, his own voice sounding odd.

#Yes I'm fine, let's see what they are talking about shall we?# They walked closer to the chatting wizards.

"So the Potters, are they as powerful as you say Albus?"

"Probably more so, it was amazing when I tested them, they both put me to shame once they had got there duel cored wands."

"Dual cored you say? Bloody hell Albus, they could walk all over us."

"Worrying isn't it?" Albus replied.

"So could they defeat Voldemort as things stand now?"

"If was a question about pure power then yes, they would totally annihilate him, but Tom is far more experienced than they are, and more knowledgeable. At this moment he would still probably kill Harry, plus the time is not right. I'm not sure how but I believe that Tom has found a way to bound his soul to this existence. Even if Harry does kill him, he would return in the same way he did last time."

"Damm! How in the name of Merlin did he do that Albus?"

"I'm not entirely sure, first of all I believed he used Horcrux's but the more I investigate the less I believe that. Let me do some more research and we can talk again. Where are the Potter's it not like them to be late."

Mad-eye looked around the room with his magic-eye before turning back to the Headmaster.

"Well they are not in here, nor are they waiting outside. Shall we send someone to look for them, I have a class soon."

Harry grinned at Hermione; the conversation that had over-heard was startling but enlightening. They would have to discuss its implications later but for now they had a test to do. They both nodded their heads and completed the 'phase'. With a pop they appeared in front of the older men, causing them both to jump and Mad-eye tried to get his wand out. Before he could move he was staring down the length of Harry's wand, the end glowing slightly.

"Constant Vigilance sir." Harry said, waggling his eyebrows with a grin.

"Er Yes Potter, could you remove the wand please?" Mad eye asked with a slight tremor to his voice. In all his years he had never seen anyone move so fast, and the fact that both Harry and his wife had appeared to apparate into the room convinced him that Albus may be right about these two.

"Of course sir, shall we get on with the test?" Harry replied with a grin.

Professor Dumbledore laughed at Harry's antics. It was a good trick they had pulled on the grizzled Auror. "Off course you two. We have set the room up but I have added two foot of steel to the back of the target. Last time was a little wearing on the stone work. If you would like to cast your most powerful stunners at the dummies."

Both teens moved up to the targets and with a glance at each other they shouted "STUPEFY!" Like before the results were very alarming for the two teachers. The dummies vaporised in an instant, the two foot thick metal layer behind the dummies glowed red hot and a large melted hole appeared in the centre. The noise was deafening, and the air was full of dust and ozone.

"Sweet Merlin's beard!" Moody exclaimed in an awed voice."What's the score Albus?"

Dumbledore looked at the counter and gulped. With a pale face he turned to the three others looking at him. "The score doesn't register. It's off the scale."

"What, that's impossible! No one has ever done that before Albus; there must be a fault with the system." Moody waved his wand and another dummy appeared. He cast a strong stunner at it and looked at the Headmaster.

"648 Alastor, just as before, it's working fine." He told the teacher.

"Sir, what does that mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well Mrs Potter, the machine can only display up to 1500, it appears that both you and your husband are over that number so the machine cannot display your score."

"O...K..., can we try it again, but wandlessly. We have both been practicing that."

"Come of it Albus, this is a good joke, but you've taken it too far. No kids could do what you are suggesting and wandlessly?" Mad-eye snorted at the headmaster.

"Moody, I assure you this is no joke, if you two want to try wandlessly then go ahead." He waved his wand and two new dummies appeared. Harry and Hermione walked up to the targets and raised their hands. Silently and both together they cast a stunner. The red light shot from both teens palms and hit the targets with tremendous force. The results were predictably stunning.

"Well Albus?" Moody asked.

"Off the scale again!"

"Impossible!... That's just impossible! How the hell am I going to teach these two? They could obliterate me with a single thought."

"Sir, we lack knowledge. Despite our power we are only sixth years, we need you to teach us what you know. We promise to modify our power during lessons and you know we are not the type to show off. Please teach us, we need to know more if we are to deal with Voldemort." Harry begged.

Mad-eye thought about Harry's request before nodding at him and with a sigh he spoke.

"Well said Potter, I'm sure there's a spell or two I can teach you. Now get yourselves sorted, the class is starting soon." With a wave of his wand he banished the dummies and the tables and chairs re-appeared in their usual place. Harry and Hermione sat down as the rest of the class started to arrive. Ron and Neville came and sat with them, questioning looks on their faces.

"Later!" Harry whispered as Moody began the lesson.

"Good day class. Now those you thought I was teaching you all in the fourth year, were wrong. I made a mistake because I got lazy and didn't pay attention. This year this will not happen to either you or me because we will all be CONSTANTLY VIGILANT! Now put away those bloody books. What are you going to do if you are attacked by Deatheaters, read a chapter at them? We are going to practice duals and after Mr Potters performance yesterday you lot have a lot to live up to."

The rest of the class was one long duelling completion. Both Harry and Hermione played down there power considerably but it still ended with just the two of them left. However no winner was found as no matter what either of them did, the other would counter it perfectly. It was like watching a beautiful ballet and eventually Moody called it a draw.

What most people learnt was the Potters were not to be messed with, under any circumstances. What Harry and Hermione learnt was that they were so in-tune with each other that they could act as a single entity. What Moody learnt was the two youngsters powers were out of this world and not to piss them off too much.

The Charms lesson went more or less the same way. Harry and Hermione found the work easy and the practical side they performed effortlessly. Harry found that since his bonding, the theory came much easier than before and concepts that had appeared complicated before were so simple to him now. The diminutive Professor Flitwick was over the moon with the skill and power that the two teens showed, and even gave them some seventh year charms to test them. These were also performed without any problems.

Lunch time was soon upon them and the two teens, Ron and Neville made their way to the Great Hall for lunch. As it was a pleasant late summer day as soon as lunch was over the group, as well as most of the rest of the school made their way outside to enjoy the sunshine before the start of the afternoon classes. Harry and his friends made their way to the grassy area in front of the castle and sat down. They were soon joined by Susan, Hannah; who sat on Neville's knee, the two Parvati twins, Dean, Ginny, Luna and Seamus. As they sat Harry saw young Heidi sat with some of her new friends. She looked over and waved at him, which he returned. Heidi's friends looked at her with envy clear on their faces, causing the young blonde to smile even more.

"Hey Harry, where's your wife?" Dean suddenly asked.

Harry looked around and noticed that Hermione was not with them. He had not noticed her leave and used his bond to locate her. As soon as he found her he was worried.

"Oh No!" he groaned, an embarrassed blush filling his face. "Guys, please let's go" he begged.

"Er why Harry?" Ron asked.

Suddenly a very loud voice could be heard filling the entire school.

"**MY NAME IS HERMIONE JEAN POTTER AND I WANT THE WHOLE WORLD TO KNOW THAT I LOVE HARRY JAMES POTTER WITH ALL MY HEART, FOR NOW AND FOR ALL OF TIME!"**

As people looked around they could see a small brown haired figure standing on top of the Astronomy tower waving at the crowd. Then everyone was smiling at the blushing Harry.

"Awww Harry how sweet! How the hell did you get Hermione to do that?" Ginny asked with a barely concealed grin.

"She volunteered, and she is going to get into trouble for that with the teachers. I never thought she would do it." As he spoke Hermione phased herself next to him, causing everyone to jump.

"Bloody Hell Hermione, you might want to warn someone about that next time! How the hell did you do that?" Seamus exclaimed as he spat out his drink.

"Sorry Seamus but I cannot tell you how I did that" she replied with a smile. Turning to Harry "Told you I'd do it Harry, I don't care who knows how much I love you!" and she kissed him rather passionately, causing the others to blush and look a little uncomfortable.

"Ahem! Mrs Potter!" came a voice. Hermione broke her kiss and looked up at the source of the voice.

"Professor McGonagall?"

"As nice as your declaration was, and I'm sure the whole school is happy for you, the volume you used was a little excessive. Several windows shattered around the school, and I understand that Professor Dumbledore dropped his lunch and broke his favourite plate, the one with Darth Vader on it, whoever he is."

"I'm very sorry Ma'am." Hermione waved her hand a little. "The windows are repaired as is Professor Dumbledore's dinner plate."

The teacher raised her eyebrows in surprise "Well that's all very well, but I still can't have prefects breaking school rules. I'm afraid I will have to dock you 10 points, and you will have to serve detention with me. I understand that you have a free period next?" Hermione nodded, knowing full well that her head of house knew that.

"Well then, you can serve your detention now. Come along. Harry you may as well come along also, oh and by the way, 10 points to Gryffindor for been married!" she continued with a massive smile on her face causing everyone to giggle a little.

As the three walked away and back towards the castle, all the other students were either smiling at them or pointing and laughing. Harry found it very embarrassing and was walking with his head down. Hermione on the other hand was reacting in a completely different way. She had her head held high, green eyes sparkling in the sun and a proud look on her face. That was until she saw how Harry was reacting. Her shoulders slumped and with a small voice she asked him

"You're not ashamed of me are you?"

Harry looked over at her in shock. How could he do to her what he had accused her of doing a few days ago?

"Merlin no! I love you so much and I am very proud of you. Sorry I was just a little embarrassed by all the attention."

Now as they walked both teens had their heads held high, and they strode confidently behind the deputy headmistress. Soon they reached her rooms and as they entered Professor McGonagall asked them to sit in the two chairs in front of her desk.

"Now then, despite Mrs Potter's little escapade this lunchtime, thank you for repairing the windows by the way – 10 points for that, I guess you two are keen to start the final stage of your Animagus transformation?"

"Yes please Ma'am" Harry replied.

"Good, now I have brewed a potion that you will both need to take. It will force a transformation on you both. It is related to the Polyjuice potion in that it causes the transformation but instead of it been activated by a sample of the donor, you activate it by finding your animal. The purpose of the potion is to show your body what it needs to do. Once you do this the first time then you will need to practice the transformation without the potion. It will be slow going at first as this is the part that can take months to complete. Do not be disheartened if you cannot re-create the transformation for many weeks. Are you both clear on that and ready?"

Both teens nodded eager to start the process. Professor McGonagall brought out two vials of a vivid blue potion and handed each teen a vial.

"Now clear your minds and bring forth your animal. Once you firmly have it in your mind then take the potion. Do not be alarmed, it is quite uncomfortable the first time, but I will be here to help with any problems." She told them.

Harry cleared his mind and quickly found his centre. As he thought the large white tiger came to him and in his mind eye, it sat in front of him, its large pink tongue hanging out to one side. Without opening his eyes, he brought the vial of liquid to his lips and drank the contents in one quick motion. As soon as he drank it he felt his body convulse and with a feeling that he was turning to liquid his body started the transformation process. With a sharp cry of pain, he felt his body elongate and his arms and legs shorted, but become more powerful. His head changed and his teeth grew longer and sharper. Suddenly the process completed and he opened his eyes. The world looked very odd, his point of view was a little lower than before and everything was in monochrome. This wasn't a major problem as his other senses were enhanced. He could hear the smallest sound, the faint noise of the students outside, the heartbeat and breathing of Professor McGonagall. His sense of smell was amazing, and it seemed to add colour to the world as he could practically see the smells around him. He could smell the lunch that Professor McGonagall had eaten as well as the slight smell of heather that seemed to surround her. He could smell the polish used to clean her room as well as the house elves that had been in the room, and finally he could smell his mate. He turned to look and saw a beautiful snowy white leopard sat looking at him with her tongue lolling out. Although he couldn't see the colour of her eyes, he knew that they would be green, like his. He opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was a snarl and a growl. Hermione opened her mouth and seemed to be laughing as she watched the surprise on his feline eyes. She stood up and walked gracefully over to him and rubbed her face along his. This provoked an immediate reaction in Harry, that had he been in human form would have embarrassed him, but in his tiger form seemed natural. She was his mate, only his. He stood and copied her action and the two cats danced around each other, rubbing their heads against each other as they circled. Both were making deep purring noises as the two animals bonded – bonded for life. Without any warning the potion wore off and suddenly the two teens found themselves on the floor in each other's arms. Both had tears running down their faces as they look at each other.

"That was amazing Mione. You are beautiful" Harry whispered.

"Ahem!" Minerva sounded, a little embarrassed and flushed herself. "Very well done you two. Now you will have to work on re-creating that process without the potion. It will be hard work and we will start by trying to transform your hands. Now if you could both..."

She stopped as she starred in amazement. Where the two students had been sat, now there were the two large cats once more, both purring at each other again.

"Impossible! That's just impossible...no one has ever done that before!"

With a naughty thought, Harry stood and walked over to his teacher and friend. She instinctively bent down to him and he suddenly licked her face from chin to hairline. His wet scratchy tongue covering her face.

"Euugh! Harry!" she complained, whilst laughing. Harry walked back to Hermione and both transformed back to their human form.

"Wow! That's a rush!" Hermione stated.

"How did you both do that?" Professor McGonagall asked in an awed voice.

"Well I'm not sure about Harry, but I just wanted to make the transformation again and so I willed my body to do it. Isn't that what we were supposed to do?" Hermione asked.

"Well yes, but it should take months. Although after speaking to Albus about your tests this morning I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

Harry grinned at her, pleased that they had performed the transformation. They spent the next hour practising turning back and forth, as well as getting used to their cat bodies. They both found the transformation easy and even found that they could partially transform. Harry particularly liked Hermione with her snow leopard ears, teeth and eyes, stating that it reminded him of the event in their second year, much to Hermione's embarrassment and Professor McGonagall's confusion. Very soon their time was up and both left to attend there next class. As they walked down to the potions room, hand in hand they were soon joined by Ron and Neville.

"Well? What happened; was she really mean to you both?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, she got us so mad we turned into complete animals Ron." Harry replied with a laugh.

"Huh?"

"Never mind Ron, we will show you both later." He told him as they took their seats. Potions was different without Snape, and Harry wasn't sure if he liked Professor Slughorn. He kept calling Harry his 'dear boy' and asking him and Hermione for dinner. Something about a Slug club - Harry made a vague commitment and both rushed out of the class as soon as the lesson was over. Later that evening they both showed Ron, Ginny and Neville there animal forms.

"Bloody hell Harry! That's brilliant!" Ron stated in his usual drawl.

Ginny walked over and petted Harry and scratched his ears. This caused him to purr at her and she giggled. Hermione walked over and gazed at the young red-head with only a gaze that a cat can produce. Ginny blushed and apologised before Hermione gently licked her face. The two teens phased themselves in there animal forms to the forest outside and both ran together, through the darkened trees. They eventually phased back to their room, and changed back to their human forms.

"That was amazing Hermione" he said before they both climbed into bed.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

Soon the days rolled on. Draco made a brief appearance in the Hall as he was lead away by two Aurors. As he walked past Harry he flinched and left a trail of yellow liquid along the length of the hall. Even the Slytherins laughed at the sight. Harry and Hermione settled down to what could only be described as domestic bliss. The rest of the school soon settled down with the married couple and they were just Harry and Hermione again. Harry wasn't sure how it was possible but his love for his wife grew on a steadily basis and it was almost impossible to see them apart. The only time was when Harry was allowed to phase to London to buy a gift for his wife's upcoming seventeenth birthday, and even then it was only for a few hours. Finally the day came, the nineteenth of September – Hermione's Birthday.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

"My Lord, it is the day, when do we begin the ritual and the journey?" Peter asked

"Rat! It is indeed the day, the glorious day when the world will see the end of the muggleborn filth and see my true power as Lord of all magic. The planets will be aligned by ten o'clock tonight. We will have just over an hour to open the portal. You will go first and then if all is well, you will activate the return spell. Once back I will enter the portal and find my illustrious ancestor. I will aid him in his battle and kill the Mudblood loving Gryffindor. Then we will see the true power of magic."

"Yes my lord!" Peter bowed, thinking to himself that it all seemed a bit too easy.

Voldemort, Tom Riddle – however had made one small error. In his haste to calculate the best time for using the crystal he forgot that not only would Mar, Venus and the Earth be in planetary alignment needed to give the extra power to the crystal, but that Saturn was also planning on playing a part. The crystal would be getting a little extra power that Tom wasn't aware off. However one person was. A small blonde haired girl suddenly woke in bed with sweat pouring off her.

"Oh Shit!" she softly spoke. "Now that's going to cause a problem, and I won't remember how to help them." She searched her vast mind for a solution and with a smile she partitioned a small part of her mind. She cast a temporal charm on the partition and placed a small memory there, with a mental key placed there as well.

"I hope that works!" Luna said to herself before settling back down for the few remaining hours of the night.


	15. Chapter 14 The Death of Magic

**Chapter Fourteen – The Death of Magic**

**A/N Well here it is, the crux of the story. Please please review.**

_Hogwarts - Thursday September 19__th__ 1996 07:34_

Harry woke from a deep sleep to find his vision obscured by a mass of brown hair. As he gently moved he could see that Hermione was still asleep on his chest, her mane of hair spread out like a large fan. She was breathing gently as she slept and Harry found that he loved watching her. She looked so peaceful and content. In her sleep she smiled at some errant thought and through their bond Harry could feel her happiness. He smiled as he looked at her, so much had changed in his life since their bonding and it was all for the better. As he watched her he felt her begin to wake, her eyes fluttered open and she gazed up at him, smiling.

"Good morning Birthday Girl" Harry said.

"Moooooorning." She yawned, smiling up at him. |As she came around she smiled and looked deep into his emerald eyes. "God, I love you" she stated before pulling him down for a passionate kiss. "Just you wait until tonight lover boy" she promised with a gleam in her eye, as she then jumped up and made her way to the bathroom, giggling at the expression on his face.

Harry groaned and fell back on the bed. "You're killing me woman!" he shouted after her, only to be met with gales of laughter. Her head poked around the door of their bathroom.

"Come on then, you can wash my back" she called. As she spoke the rest of her appeared from behind the door; she was totally naked, and she jiggled her breasts at him a little. Harry needed no further encouragement and was on his feet and in the bathroom in record time. Soon the passionate cries of Hermione could be heard loudly in the room as Harry brought her to many climaxes with his fingers and tongue. She was leaning against the wall of the shower, flushed and still quivering slightly, her eyes dusky and filled with love. "Wow, that was amazing" she breathed before kneeling down to help Harry relieve some of the tension he had built up.

It was a very happy couple that made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast later. Both had goofy expressions on their faces and Hermione was wearing a new necklace that Harry had given her before they left their room. It was a gold chain with a drop sapphire and diamond pendant. The pendant contained protection charms that would protect the wearer against all but the most powerful of curses. Hermione had loved it on first sight and vowed never to remove it. She had received a few other presents from Harry, most noticeably her own set of car keys for a brand new Porsche 911 sports car and a full set of driving lessons from her parents. Although Hermione was unaware of it, Harry had arranged for a small party that evening in the main common room, and most of her presents would be given then. They were one of the last to arrive for breakfast due to there earlier escapades, and as they entered the hall, most people turned to look at them. They walked hand in hand until they got to the Gryffindor table. Ron, who was sat with Luna who was looking rather worried, scooted over and made room for the pair. Ron was grinning at them like a maniac, and evil glint in his eye.

"Harry birthday Hermione, nice necklace you have there, Harry get you that?" Ron said. "You seemed pleased to see him this morning, judging from the noise." He smirked.

Hermione and Harry looked up and saw most of the table grinning at them. "Shit! We forgot the silencing charms again." Hermione whispered. She could already feel her face colour with embarrassment.

"Way to go Harry!" Seamus shouted causing everyone to laugh. Even Luna was giggling behind her hand at the couple.

"Ignore them love, they are only jealous." Harry told her as he proceeded to fill his plate with breakfast.

"Damm right we are!" Ginny muttered, causing Ron to glare at her briefly, before she continued, "Don't worry Hermione, we all know you are married after all. Now show me that lovely necklace." And with that breakfast continued more or less as normal. Harry and Hermione still received a number of smirks and grins, but they chose to ignore them. They proceeded to their first lessons of the day which was double Charms. Professor Flitwick was teaching them the Aguamenti charm, but was caught out by the enormous power of Harry and Hermione's charm. Once he had repaired the wall that the powerful jet of water had destroyed, he asked if the pair could try to refrain from destroying his classroom. A very embarrassed pair of teens kept their remaining charms at minimum power.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

Elsewhere two other people were celebrating the dawn of the nineteenth, but for completely different reasons.

"Wormtail, it is here. The day of my victory over the scourge of the magical world. Today will see the end of the filthy Mudbloods and only pure blood will remain."

"Yes my Lord." Peter answered.

"Fetch me the Chronos crystal. I must prepare for the work of the night."

Peter went to bring the glowing red crystal. As he looked at it, it seemed to blur and warp, as if it wasn't really there in the first place. Looking at it for too long gave Peter a horrible headache and made him feel rather sick. He carried the large crystal on a cushion to the Dark Lord.

"Good - Good. Now you remember the recall spell don't you Wormtail?"

"Yes my lord." Peter replied. Voldemort had taken great delight in teaching the incantation to his servant. For some reason the teaching involved multiple use of the torture curse. The use of the crystal was complicated -Setting it up to create the portal would take many hours and had taken days of research on Voldemort's part beforehand. However the recall spell was simple. Once Peter had completed his mission all he had to do was say 'Redire me ad Praesens' and he would be brought back to the crystal.

"Now leave me whilst I start the portal process." He told the small rat faced man. Peter was all too happy to leave the room, and scurried away.

"Now, let it begin" Voldemort said to himself.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

It was during lunch that Harry took hold of Hermione's hand, and brought her to an empty classroom.

"Harry, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Don't worry Hermione; I have permission to do this." He took her hand and they 'phased' away, only to arrive at Hermione's parents house.

"Surprise!" came the shout from Jean.

"Mum!" she shouted and flung herself into her mother's arms.

"Happy Birthday darling" Roger said from the other side of the room. Hermione moved to hug her father as well.

"Thank you Dad, and thank you Harry for bringing me to see them. Thanks for the driving lessons, where is it then?" she asked in an excited voice.

"Where's what darling?" Roger asked teasing her.

"You know what, the car that my lovely husband bought for me." She replied with a grin.

"Well, there was a new car delivered yesterday and I put it in the garage, but I'm sure that's not the one you mean."

With a happy cry, Hermione ran out to the garage and flung open the door. Stood inside was a brand new bright red Porsche 911 Targa. With a squeal Hermione climbed inside and started the engine. With a roar the water cooled engine fired and for a short while deafened everyone as Hermione depressed the accelerator.

"Cool! When can I start lessons?" she asked with gleaming eyes.

"Well summer would be best, but we can get some in during the Christmas break if you want love. With your brains and magic I'm sure we will have you driving soon. By the way your provisional licence arrived this morning, it's on the kitchen counter." Roger told her.

Hermione killed the engine and got out of the car; she walked to Harry and kissed him rather passionately, causing her parents to blush.

"Thank you Harry, it's beautiful."

"No problem Mione, it's has a few optional extras on it. It has a anti-crash charm, as well as a anti-theft one."

They retired back to the house and after a brief lunch Harry stood. "Well we need to get back to school. I only had permission to take you home during the lunch hour."

Hermione said a tearful goodbye to her parents and they both 'phased' back to the school. Lessons that afternoon consisted of Defence and Potions, both went well for the couple and Professor Slughorn was very pleased with the Draught of the Living death potion they brewed. Soon they couple were finishing their evening meal in the Great Hall. Hermione thought it was strange that the hall was oddly devoid of most Gryffindor's but Harry mentioned that they were all watching Hufflepuff practice as this was the next Quidditch match. After eating Harry led Hermione to the common room on the pretence that he wanted to see Ron who would be back by now. As soon as they got to the portrait, Hermione knew something was up as the Fat Lady kept giggling at her. They door opened and Harry pushed his wife though the gap into the darkened room beyond. As soon as the door shut, the whole common room shouted "SUPRISE!" the lights flicked on and the room was decorated with balloons, and streamers. There was a large banner saying 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERMIONE' but it also kept flicking to read 'MRS POTTER RULES!' There was a large cake and an even larger pile of presents. Music started playing and soon there was a very happy party atmosphere. Everyone was there, including Luna, who was dancing with a rather happy looking Ron, and Hannah was sat kissing a very surprised looking Neville. Hermione was opening all her presents and generally enjoying herself. Someone had brought a large pallet of Butter beer's and these were been dished around. As the time got closer to nine, Professor McGonagall arrived to break up the party.

"It's a school night so we need to get you all to bed. Come on everyone tidy up." She called, much to everyone's dismay. Soon Harry and Hermione found themselves in there room, sat with a cup of tea in their hands.

"Happy birthday love, I hope you enjoyed your day?"

"Loved it, and it's not over yet. You know what I promised. Harry, take me to bed and make love to me." She asked him

"You sure?" he asked, suddenly nervous, his heart beating very fast.

"Never been more sure."

Harry stood and held out his hand to her, she took it and they both walked to the bedroom.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

_Voldemort's lair – September 19__th__ 21:46_

"Wormface, where are you?" came the scream.

Pettigrew ran into the room where his master was working.

"CRUCIO!" and the red beam of light flew and hit him in the chest. He dropped to the ground and screamed in agony.

"Where have you been?" Voldemort asked once he had released his servant.

"M-m-m-my Lord. I have been getting ready for your plan." The rat stuttered. Indeed Peter had found a set of robes that would not look out of place nearly a thousand years ago.

"Good, the time is nearly here. We need to begin."

_D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M._

_Gryffindor Married quarters – 19__th__ September 21:49_

Harry kissed his wife as they lay naked in the bed. This was the moment, the time that they took each others virginity. Hermione was melting into his kiss, her moans softly escaping into his mouth. With a now practiced hand he deftly brought her to the first of her climaxes, her cries echoing around the room. They had remembered the silencing charms this time as well as the contraception charm. They did not want any little Potter's just yet.

"Harry, I Love you, make love to me - make love to me now" Hermione begged. Harry kissed her and ran his hands across her breasts.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

_Voldemort's Lair, - 19__th__ September 22:00_

"The time is now Wormtail, the planets are aligned. Are you ready?" the Dark Lord asked.

"Ready my Lord." Peter replied nervously.

Voldemort placed both hands on the brightly glowing crystal. He shut his eyes and recited the incantation whilst pouring his magic into the device.

"Lubeo nunc per principes aditum patere det vires tempus!"

The crystal's light intensified and beams of red and yellow light shot out of it. They played around the face of Voldemort before casting out towards the centre of the room. Slowly a glowing crack appeared in the fabric of the room, which gradually grew until it was a rough circle floating just above the floor.

"It worked!" Voldemort crowed, "Behold a time portal. Peter it will last an hour, are you ready to go?"

"Yes my Lord." Peter replied

"Then go and let me know if it's safe for me to meet my glorious fate."

Peter walked over to the glowing portal and gingerly walked through it. With a flash his form vanished leaving Voldemort alone.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

_Egypt 3110 B.C. long before the Pharaohs and Gods_

The sun rose quickly in the early summer time casting its relentless heat on the Delta. The only source of relief from its heat came near the water's edge, but this relief was countered by the swarms of early morning flying insects that populated the Delta. A little way from the edge stood a large building site in its late stages of construction. One of the clan chiefs had decided that this was where he wanted to build his town after he had won the area in a large battle four years ago. Khenti was a good leader and commanded many strong warriors. He brought peace and prosperity to the region and had decided that the nomadic life he grew up with was over and he ordered the slaves to build him a town here at Giza. So a long plan of building had begun, first with crude mud huts, but after a seam of sandstone was discovered nearby, the best buildings were been upgraded to stone. The stone masons were amongst the elite of the slaves and commanded much respect, although they were still slaves they were well treated and fed and were allowed to marry and have children. They jealously guarded the skills of working the stone and would only pass the knowledge on to a few apprentices; often their own sons. On this morning Hêtshepsu woke early as his father had taught him. He was a hard working young man and was never one to shirk responsibility. His father, Itafê, used to be the head stone mason and now he had inherited the role and as such was an important slave. When his father was alive he had been allowed with the chief's permission to marry his mother, Mkit and he was born over seventeen years ago. Hêtshepsu was an unusual child when he was growing up, quiet and given to long periods of solitude. The other children would often tease him especially Kamenwati, the son of the overseer. However strange things would often happened around Hêtshepsu. One particular incident seemed to stick in his mind. When Hêtshepsu was eleven years of age, he had been sent on an errand for his father. He had to go to the stone cutters and ask for an extra block of stone to be cut for the new building. A pair of idiots in the work gangs had dropped one of the blocks and it had cracked rendering it useless thus causing the need for a replacement. As Hêtshepsu ran to the quarry, his sandals flapping on the rough path, he suddenly found his way blocked by Kamenwati and his two idiotic friends.

"So where are you running to? Another errand for Baba?"

"Out of the way Wati, or I'll report you to the guards, this is official town business."

The older boy looked angry at the use of the shortened version of his name, a great insult in the culture.

"Why you insolent little slave, I will teach you a lesson you will never forget." And with that he pulled out his long bronze knife and moved towards Hêtshepsu, with the knife held low. Hêtshepsu didn't have time for this, the builder gangs were waiting for the block and so was his father. He moved back from Kamenwati as if to avoid the conflict but the bully was expecting this and suddenly lunged the knife towards Hêtshepsu belly. As he saw the knife coming towards him, he suddenly felt a strong wave of power come from him and when he looked up he saw Kamenwati and his goons lying in a heap a good distance away from him moaning slightly. He looked down and saw his hand pointing outwards as if to ward of a blow, but he swore he never made contact with the older boy. He shrugged and thanked the gods and continued with his errand. From that day Kamenwati never bothered him again.

Today however, things were different. No longer was he a child and apprentice but now he was the master stone mason. His father had died in an accident four years ago and by rite and tradition he now was in charge. He dressed and kissed his wife Hêtshepsit as he left. He had only been married for a week and one day hoped that she would bear him many children. He walked happily to the site, it was nearing completion and they had just finished the chief's new hall. They were now working on the temple for the gods. As he approached the main site area, his assistant ran up to him with the news of the day. They spent a little while discussing the schedule and the slave teams needed for the work before he left for the site inspection. This was a routine that Hêtshepsu always did. He would tour the works, complementing the good work and ordering corrections for the mistakes. He would always speak to the slave teams, and consequently he was a popular master. Today he came to the main entrance to the temple, the stone pillar had been erected yesterday and the main lintel was balanced in place, held by rope until the rest could be finished. As he looked around, suddenly the vine rope holding the lintel snapped causing the massive stone block to move to one side. All of a sudden however there was a flash of light and a small rat faced man appeared. He looked startled as he took in his surroundings. He spoke with a strange language that Hêtshepsu did not recognise but its meaning was clear.

"Where am I?" he stumbled backwards into the stone pillar. This caused the nearest pillar to Hêtshepsu to twist and collapse towards him and the odd looking man. As he looked up, knowing he could not escape in time, he raised his hand and thought that he really didn't want to die, but the man stumbled once more and Hêtshepsu next action was stopped. The massive stone pillars fell with a resounding crash, killing both men instantly. However as soon as they died, the body of the stranger glowed and vanished, to be replaced by a very strange wind that expanded and rippled the air around it.

When the slave team finally managed to move all the blocks they were dismayed to find the mangled body of their leader. He was buried with full honours and when the temple was finished a small statue was erected in his honour. His wife died a few years later, childless and broken hearted.

The odd wind expanded outwards, however this was no ordinary wind, this was a temporal wind. Its effects as it grew were small at first, but as it gathered force and grew its effects became more pronounced. It flew forward in time, altering the fabric of reality around it as journeyed. People that would of been born with new genes were born but changed by its effects The ancient Egyptian gods were never born, and the Egyptian civilisation died out hundreds of years before it was supposed to happen. As the winds travelled they changed all around them. Merlin was never born, Godric Gryffindor was just a minor baron who built a castle in the north of Scotland. Salazar Slytherin never met his old friend and enemy and lived out his life as a minor noble in France. As the wind travelled forward it became a maelstrom of temporal energy, gathering strength as it altered all around it.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

_Gryffindor Married quarters – 19__th__ September 22:05_

"Oh Sweet Jesus Harry!" Hermione cried as Harry entered her for the first time. As they began to find there rhythm the Soul Bond finally and irrevocably finalised, and they were surrounded by an intense golden glow that solidified into a golden sphere. The couple rose from the bed and floated in the centre of the sphere, and as they moved against each other the passion and ecstasy was clearly evident on both their faces. As their souls finally merged, for a short while all thoughts of 'self' were banished. There was only 'us', one new entity, coupled in the ancient loving embrace. Nothing - no force in Heaven or Earth could separate the two of them at this moment, and it was this exact moment that the temporal wind finally hit. The winds screamed around the castle, altering its very fabric. Students and teachers vanished, only to re-appear in other places, other school or other homes, as ordinary non-magical people. Luna sat up in bed and screamed as she was displaced; the small section in her brain however was protected.

In another part of the country, Voldemort suddenly realised his error and raised his head in horror before he was no more, just one Tom Riddle, leader of the notorious terrorist organisation - the Mortem Comendentis was left behind.

As the magic in the world died, back in the old ruined castle, two people were unaware of the disaster that was befalling them. They were still locked inside the golden sphere as it protected them, and kept them together. To split the souls apart now would kill them both instantly and the very fabric of the universe could not let that happen. The winds howled around the sphere, angry that these two were spared its effects. As Harry and Hermione climaxed together, eyes now locked into each other, they both screamed out each other's name before both blacking out. They floated back to the bed, the only item in the room left unchanged. The temporal winds faded, there job now done but the glowing golden sphere remained around the couple as they slept. When then would awaken in the morning they would be faced with a massive problem, one that would take a lot to mend - The Death of Magic.


	16. Chapter 15  A Brave new World?

**A/N Sorry for the delay, work been very busy. A little shorter than normal, but I am going on my hols for two weeks and wanted to post something before I go. Please enjoy and review.**

**P.s. The last chapter was supposed to have a big lemon scene, but due to FF recent crack down on the more mature content, I toned it down. When and if they introduce a MA rating I will go back and add it.**

**Chapter Fifteen – A Brave new World?**

_Friday September 20__th__ 07:45_

The sun rose, as it always had done over the world, the celestial bodies unaware of the change in the time-vortex. As the light crept over the United Kingdom, signalling the start of a new day, it hit the remaining few towers of Gryffindor castle. The rest of the castle was a ruin, but a ruin with a purpose. Metal railings and signs adorned the walls, and carefully manicured lawns covered the once floors. A small red Fiat Panda drove into the staff car-park and parked in its usual bay. A middle age woman got of the car, her Historic Scotland uniform clean and pressed. Sandra McCloud was a woman happy with her job. She had worked for English Heritage for years as guides in most of its properties. As she neared retirement, the job at Gryffindor castle had come up with Scotland's equivalent to English Heritage and she had jumped at the chance. The location was perfect, near to her home town and her grandchildren, and since Peter was already retired he had no problem about leaving Surrey to come home to Scotland. She loved the castle and all of its history; she loved the grounds with the beautiful lake upon which rowing boats could be hired. She was happy with the sensitive restoration work that had been done on the main tower, restoring the floors and rooms to close to what they believed they looked like in the twelfth century. The only thing Sandra was not happy about was her shift today. Fridays - school trip day! The day when hoards on uninterested sticky and grubby children would descend upon her beloved castle, always trying to touch and to get passed the red velvet barriers that the whole of civilisation understood to mean – do not enter; everyone that is except school children.

As she walked towards the entrance of the staff room she sighed to herself. She would try to remain keen and try to answer there stupid questions, but as she got older these things became harder.

"Morning Sandra! Ready for the masses? We have the first at nine this morning. Sixty from the local comprehensive - eleven year olds; and then another coach at eleven. This lot are nine year olds from Edinburgh, and that's just the morning." Her boss, Alastor McDowell told her with a grin. He loved to tease Sandra about 'School Trip Day'. Her dislike of the day was well known amongst the guides and they often deliberately gave her the shift to watch the results.

Sandra ignored him outwardly, but was groaning inside as she made her way to her locker and stowed her bag. Making a cup of coffee she settled down to read the morning paper before taking her place in the main tower. 'It was going to be a long day' she thought to herself and she took up her location just outside one of the main bedrooms.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

The coach pulled up in the main cark-park and began to disgorge its contents of already bored pre-teens. Mr Walker and Mrs Campbell, the two history teachers marshalled the pupils up to the main gate of the castle. Before they entered Mr Walker began his practiced speech.

"Now Year seven, Welcome to Gryffindor castle. As we discussed in class, Godric Gryffindor was a wealthy land-owner that built this castle in 1145. He supported the Scottish kings and was keen to break away from the English rule. He built this castle as a fortress to fight for the Scottish kings, but he was killed in a freak accident at the age of twenty seven. As he had no children the castle fell into the hands of his rivals. Now you all have your work books with you yes?"

The children all chorused that they had.

"Good, then once we are inside, you may split up into your teams and we will meet on the main lawn for lunch. Is every one okay with that...and that means you Mr McBride, put that girls bag down and come here."

The young Daniel McBride walked over with a silly grin on his face, the class joker he delighted in pulling jokes on his classmates.

"No Daniel, what were you putting in young Miss Henderson's bag?" the teacher asked.

"Nothing sir, just looking sir!" came the cheeky reply.

"Well don't! Now get along with you. See you all at lunch." As he spoke he handed out the various tickets to the pupils.

The pupils all dispersed whilst the teachers made their way to the coffee room. As they walked they passed a few other tourists visiting the castle, unaware that Friday was not the best day for a quite day.

The pupils scattered to the various locations mentioned in their workbooks. Daniel, his best friend Rupert along with Mathew and Tom were all in one group. They laughed as they wandered the castle, mainly ignoring the workbooks. They would get the answers from some of the girls over lunch; they were just there to enjoy themselves. They entered the main tower and past Sandra who glared at them. Upon seeing the stern guide, they calmed down and joined the back of the tourists that were been guided around by her. They all entered the main bedroom, that had been restored to something close to its early 13th century style. In the room behind the ubiquitous Velvet red ropes was a large four poster bed that looked oddly new. Older looking furniture was dotted around the room, along with bizarrely, some modern looking clothing. The clothing was going mainly unnoticed as everyone else in the group was listening to Sandra as she told them about the history of the room as well as the restoration work that the room had undergone. Daniel was the only one to notice the discrepancy, and as he looked around the room, he noticed something else. On the bed were two large lumps. These at first glance seemed to be large pillows on the bed. It was only when one of them moved and an obviously naked female arm stretched out that Daniel realised what they were.

"Hey, why are there two naked people in that bed?" he asked in a loud voice.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

Hermione was in heaven, she'd had the most wonderful night of her life so far and was enjoying the feeling of her husband's naked body wrapped around hers. She had woken at about half past eight, but soon decided to snuggle back down and doze for while. She felt complete, if not a little sore and a little damp between her legs, but this only made her happier. Harry and her had never been closer. As she dozed she slowly became aware of voices, but that couldn't be right. Who was in their room? She slowly moved an arm in an attempt to sit up when she heard a loud child's voice.

"Hey, why are there two naked people in that bed?"

All hell broke loose, the tourists all looked over as Hermione sat up, clutching the covers to her naked chest. Sandra screamed loudly.

"What the HELL are you doing over there, beyond the ropes?" seemingly this was more of a crime than been naked in bed with a boy.

"Harry!" Hermione hissed. "HARRY!" she said louder nudging him with a foot.

_#Not yet love, let me sleep.#_ came the reply, but not via a voice, it seemed to arrive straight into her head.

_#HARRY JAMES POTTER WAKE UP THIS INSTANT, SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG!#_ she thought.

Harry sat bolt upright, the covers falling down to his lap, exposing his naked torso, just as a camera flash went off.

"What the FUCK!" he shouted, looking around. "These aren't our rooms, where are we?"

"Yes that's a question I would like answering. Just what do you two think you are doing in my castle?" Sandra asked, coming over to the bed. Harry instinctively went for his wand, that he had kept under the pillow, but Hermione stopped him.

_#Harry, no. Look at how she is dressed; I think she is a muggle. Something is very wrong here.#_

_#Mione, how am I hearing you, your lips are not moving.#_

_#I think our bond has finalised, this must be the result. Whatever you do, do not do any magic at the moment.#_

"Ma'am, we are not sure where we are or how we got here." Hermione said in a polite voice.

"My dear, where you are in Gryffindor castle in Scotland, one of a number owned and run by Historic Scotland, and we do not let naked teenagers use the beds like this."

"Gryffindor Castle? Where is Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked confused.

"Who?"

"The headmaster of this school!" Harry replied getting annoyed.

"I think young man, that you may have had too much to drink and some friends of you both thought it was a good idea to break in and put you both here. I suggest that you both get some clothes on and I will get security and the police to see to you.", and with that she ushered the now interested tourists out of the room to allow the teens to dress. She did however point out the CCTV camera and told them that they were been watched and not to run off. Hermione looked around the room and found her cloths. She somewhat self consciously reached for them, aware of the CCTV camera recording the incident, and dressed under the covers, whilst Harry did the same, making sure to pocket there wands as they did. As soon as they were dressed and out of the bed, the door opened and two burly security guards marched them away. The room was left empty; and unseen by anyone the bed morphed into a different much older looking one, more in keeping with the age of the room. This was not even seen by the CCTV cameras as reality changed around once more.

The pair of teens were marched through the castle until they got to the main offices. They were sat down in a pair of chairs and issued with a cup of tea and told to wait. Harry looked around and saw another camera on the wall and nudged Hermione and pointed it out with his eyes.

_#Harry, what's happening? I'm scared. This isn't Hogwarts, but yet it looks familiar.#_

_#Mione I am not sure, all I know is that last night everything was fine and today it's all wrong. Can you feel any magical signatures around here?#_

Hermione closed her eyes and felt the world around her. With as gasp she opened her eyes and looked at Harry with horror.

_#Harry, there are none, none for miles. What's going on, have we been moved?#_

_#I'm not sure love, this place looks nothing like Hogwarts, but your right it does feel familiar. Let's play dumb when the police get here, we don't want them checking too much.#_

Over the next few minutes they silently came up with a cover story, and when the police got there they were told that they were residents of a local boarding school, whose friends had thought it would be funny to get them drunk and move them to the castle. After an hour or so the two found themselves been escorted off the premises. For some reason neither could find there school robes, and were both wearing jeans and jumpers. The police escorted them to the main car park and told them where to catch a bus from, and leaving them with an official warning, they left them there. The two teens looked around with a growing sense of dread.

"Harry, look there's the Black Lake, and if you ignore the missing tower, this looks a lot like Hogwarts castle. What the hell is going on?" she asked him. Harry shrugged and walked over to a large board that had tourist information on it.

'_Gryffindor Castle – Maintained by Historic Scotland._

_Built in 1145 by Godric Gryffindor as a defensive base of operations._

_The Castle was left in ruin by the early 1200's and would have disappeared if it wasn't...'_

The sign continued in much the same vein. "So this is Hogwarts? What the hell happened, where is everyone?" Harry asked, confused.

"Well we won't find out here. We need to find our friends." Hermione replied.

"Where do you suggest we go?"

"What about the Burrow, Molly will be there and she will know what to do." Hermione told him.

"Ok, let's get out the way so we can phase there."

The pair moved from the now quite full car-park and found a secluded spot away from the crowds. They took each other's hands and phased to the lane that led up to the Burrow. Everything seemed normal, that was until the rounded the corner and saw the house. The house was exactly where it was supposed to be, but that was where the similarity ended. Instead of the tall oddly constructed building that looked like it could fall down at any moment, stood a neat and tidy bungalow, complete with a small drive and a car parked there. The garden was complete with flower beds and in the centre stood a large bird-feeder. The pair could see Molly busying herself in the kitchen and as they starred she looked out and saw the pair. With a frown she went to the door and opened it. The pair were amazed to see the Molly Weasley they knew dressed in a neat Muggle nurses uniform complete with name tag and id around her neck. It was clear that she was just about to leave for work.

"Hello, May I help you?" she asked, clearly unaware of the pairs identities. Harry felt the pain of loss as he realised that for some reason, the woman that he thought of as his surrogate mother no longer knew him.

_#Ask about Ron Harry, this is all wrong, don't startle her. I don't think she is a witch.#_ Hermione told him in a flash.

"Yes, is Ron around?"

"Oh you know my Ronald? Well I'm afraid he's at school at the moment. If you don't mind how do you know him?" Molly asked in a puzzled voice.

"Oh we met over the summer, he told us his address and we thought we would visit." Hermione told her.

"Well, he forgot to tell you that he attends a boarding school in Scotland. He will not be back until Christmas. If you leave me your contact details I can get him to email you or phone."

_#Email? What the hell?#_ Harry thought.

_#It's a form of communication using computers, but how the hell does Molly know about it?#_ Hermione replied

Harry looked at the older woman in the eyes and gently entered her mind. He only stayed on the surface of her thoughts but it was enough for him to confirm his growing suspicion.

_#She knows nothing about magic, nor do any of her family. She has never heard of us or Hogwarts. Mione I'm getting scared, what has happened?#_

Molly was watching the pair with mounting suspicion as they stared at each other. Suddenly the young woman turned to her.

"No that's okay, we already have Ron's details and we contact him from home. Tell me, is there a Luna Lovegood living nearby?"

"Yes, the Lovegoods live in the next village, how do you know Luna?" she asked testing them. She relaxed when the young woman told her that Ron had told them about his girlfriend. "Well she may be at home, she was meant to go back to school but she has been ill for a few days and the school allowed her to come home. Let me get you the address." She went back into the house.

_#Luna?#_ Harry asked, _#Why ask about Luna?#_

_#I don't know, something told me to ask, maybe __**she**__ remembers us#_

_#Why would Luna remember anymore that Molly?#_

_#Well...she's Luna#_ Hermione thought back with a mental shrug. Before she could continue Molly returned with an address written on a Post-It Note.

"Here you go. I've also included her phone number. It would be nice for her to meet some of Ron's friends, she's been a bit odd these last few days. Keeps going on about magic for some reason. Anyway if you would excuse me, I'm going to be late for work."

"Off course Mrs Weasley, thank you for the address, we'll be going now."

"Nice to meet you both, you know where the bus stop is I assume?"

They both nodded and left the house, watching as Molly locked the door and got into the car and drove off.

"Do you want to go to Luna's now?" Harry asked.

"Not yet, I want to go home and see Mum and Dad. I have a bad feeling that's something is wrong."

They took each other's hand and phased to Hermione's parents back garden. There seemed to be no one around, so they went to the back door and Hermione opened the door with a quick spell.

"MUM! DAD!" she shouted, but got no reply. The house looked perfectly normal, as they walked around. That was until they got to the lounge. On the wall were a few family photos. Oddly there was nothing of Hermione after nine years of age, and there were a few photos of another brown haired young girl.

"What is going on?" Hermione asked in exasperation. "Who is that girl?"

Just then they heard the door open and the sounds of Jean talking to someone else filtered though.

"No Cassandra, you cannot have the bike yet. It's not your birthday until October and you will have to wait."

"But Mum!" came the sound of a young girl. Hermione's eyebrows shot into her hair line_. #MUM?#_ came the thought. The sounds of speech got closer.

"Don't you 'Mum' me young lady, don't forget you are supposed to be at school. If you are well enough to be asking for bikes then I think you are well enough to go back on Monday, cold or no cold."

The door to the lounge opened and the two walked in and stopped and stared at the two intruders into their home.

"Who are you, Cassy, go get the phone NOW!" Jean screamed.

"MUM?" Hermione asked in shock

"Who? What are you doing in my house?"

"Mum, it's me, Hermione!"

"Hermione? That's not possible. Is this some sort of sick joke, did the kids down the road put you up to this?"

"Mum, I am Hermione, what is going on?" Hermione asked, tears now evident in her eyes.

Jean looked closely at the woman. She did have a look of her Hermione, but that was impossible.

"You cannot be Hermione, Hermione died when she was nine in a car accident."

Hermione looked at her mother and then at Harry before fainting on the spot.

"Mione!" Harry shouted and rushed to her side.

"Mione? You mean to tell me that this is Hermione?" Jean asked in shock as she watched the young man rush to the aid of the girl, before fainting herself.


	17. Chapter 16  A New World

**A/N Really really sorry for the long wait for this update. Usual excuses, but I hope you enjoy this one. Please review.**

**Chapter Sixteen – A New World**

Cassandra Hermione Granger was very confused and worried. She had been having a lovely day with her mother. She'd been recovering from a nasty cold and had been off school for a few days. Today however she was feeling fine, not that she told her mother that. Even though Cassandra, or Cassie as she preferred, liked school, what seven (nearly eight) year old wouldn't rather have a day off, so she'd 'over-played' her illness this morning and had spent the day with her mother. With her birthday coming up soon, she'd been hoping for a new bike and had been badgering her mother for a little while now. Now she was faced with two complete strangers in her home and one of them maintaining that she was her dead older sister. Cassie had been told about Hermione all her life, indeed her middle name was in honour of the dead sibling who died just before she was born. What was scarier was that her mother almost seemed to believe the young woman who they had found in their home, especially after the young lady had fainted, causing her own mother to faint a few seconds later. Now she as left in a room with a very good looking, green eyed young man who was trying to make 'Hermione' more comfortable,

"Cassie? That's you name yes?" the man asked her. She nodded, not sure on what to say.

"Look after your Mother, make sure that she is okay please." He asked, whilst he held the other woman. Cassie moved to her mother and checked for any bleeding. Even though she was only seven (nearly eight!), she had done a first aid course at school and knew what to look out for. She checked for breathing and for a pulse and both were fine. By now the man had moved the other girl to the sofa and had sat her on it. She was slowly coming around and the man came over to help her lift her mother onto the armchair.

"Thank you Cassie, my name is Harry Potter. We really don't mean you or your mother any harm, and that really is Hermione."

"How? My sister died before I was born."

"I'm not sure, but she really is Hermione. I guess we wait for your mum to come around and then we need to talk. Are you okay?"

"A little frightened but okay." She didn't know why she was speaking to the man, her mother and the teachers at school had told her about talking to strangers, but for some reason she trusted this green eyed young man.

Jean Granger groaned as she opened her eyes and looked around the room. Memories came flooding back of the two strangers in her house and that one of them claimed to be her long dead daughter. The girl in question was laid on her sofa, looking around groggily as she also came around. As she sat there; she looked closely at the girl. Even though her Hermione had only been nine when the car hit her, the woman in front of her bore a remarkable similarity; that was apart form the colour of her eyes. Hermione had chocolate brown eyes and this girl had startling green ones. Other than that the two could have been sisters.

"Harry, what happened?" Hermione asked.

"It's okay love, you just fainted. Do you remember..."

"MUM! Mum? What happened, why does she not remember me?"

"I don't know, are you up for some discussions?"

"Yes you two, that's what I would like to know. How come you two are in my house, uninvited and with you claiming to be my dead daughter?" Jean asked a stern look on her face.

Hermione had now sat up and Harry sat next to her. "What can I say, other than the truth? My name is Hermione Jean P... Granger. I was born on September 19th 1979 to Jean and Roger Granger. My parents are both dentists." Hermione missed the sharp look that crossed her mother's face as she mentioned both her parents. "When I was four years old I read my first book aloud to you over in that corner. It was about the life cycle of the frog. You bought me a stuffed frog as a reward that I called Mr Toad. We had a cat called Griffin, but he died when I was six. We buried him under the oak tree in the back garden and I cried for nearly a week until you explained to me that he had gone to a better place. Grandma's name is Rose and Grandpa was called John, but he died when I was only three so I don't remember him. You nick-name for me when I was a little girl was, and Harry if you repeat this I will kill you, but you called me 'Kanga' because I loved the Winnie the Pooh stories and my favourite character was Roo. I hated school because I was bullied and picked on, especially by Craig Swain and Tracy 'sodding' Kirk..."

"Enough! Hermione is that really you? How is this possible? I was with you when they switched off the life support machine. I held your hand as you left us, it was the hardest thing I had to do." Jean cried, the tears rolling down her face.

"Mum, when I was little, did I ever do anything...unusual? Make stuff disappear, or float?" Hermione asked

Jean looked oddly at her before shaking her head. "No nothing like that, why?"

_#Mione, be careful. Something is very wrong with the world. Your mum had no knowledge of Magic.#_ Harrys thought came into her head.

_#Harry, I think it's more than that. I have a horrible feeling that there is no magic in the world. Something has changed the world and we are the only ones to see it. I need to show her some magic to prove what I'm about to tell her.#_

Jean had been looking oddly at the pair as they both looked at each other. Hermione looked at her mother and took a deep breath.

"Okay. This morning Harry and I woke up in what we thought was our school in Scotland. However everything was different, the castle was a ruin, none of our friends or teachers were there and no one seemed to know anything about magic. You see I am not only your daughter but I am also a witch. Harry here is a wizard and we both go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I have been going there since I was eleven, and I think something has happened to time."

Jean had started to warm to the girl, after all her facts about Hermione's life were spot on and no one other that Hermione could have known them. That was until she started talking about magic.

"Right, that's enough of that; either you both leave or I am calling the police. I don't know who you are or how you know all those things about Hermione but I am not having any more of this." She told them

Hermione sighed and looked sad. "Let me prove it to you, watch." She told them. She stood and walked to the centre of the room. With a look at her mother she blurred and suddenly stood in her place was a large Snow Leopard. Jean and Cassie screamed and backed away from the large cat, which blurred and suddenly Hermione was stood there. She took out her wand and began to conjure flowers that appeared in her hand, and then on the table a crystal vase appeared into which Hermione placed the new roses. She then 'phased' around the room, silently disappearing and then re-appearing as Jean and Cassie gaped at her.

"Does that convince you?" Hermione asked. The two women nodded silently.

"Mum, it really is me. I don't know how or why, but it is me."

"But your eyes, there not the right colour." Jean whispered.

"Ah yes, well! They were up until a few weeks ago brown, but something happened that caused them to change." Hermione replied, blushing slightly.

"What happened?" Jean asked, now starting to believe albeit only a little.

"Well, when I said my name is Hermione Jean Granger, I sorta lied..."

"I KNEW IT!" Jean shouted. Hermione held up her hands in a placating manner.

"Mum, wait. It was Granger, but then something happened. Harry is my best friend and he had been hurt really bad a few weeks ago in our world, in fact he was dying. You and Dad took me to his bedside in London and the doctors told us that he was brain dead. I hadn't admitted it to myself but I loved Harry with all my soul and I couldn't accept that news. I did something and it healed Harry but it also created something called a Soul bond. The best I can explain it is our souls joined and we became a married couple, well more than a married couple, but that's the easiest way to explain it. Also when it happened my eyes changed colour to match Harry's. We also found out that in our world we are nobility. My real name is Lady Hermione Jean Potter-Black."

"You're married?" Jean asked despite herself

"Yes Mum, and both you and Dad approved, or at least you did in our world. We are both very happy, and being soul bonded has increased our power a lot. We can feel each other's emotions and after last night we can talk to each other in our heads."

"Why what happened last night?" Jean asked.

Hermione began to blush as she realised what she had said. With a grin Jean nodded and smiled.

"It's okay, I can guess, were you safe?" '_Now why did I ask that, she can't be my daughter, can she? Oh my God, could this really be her?'_ As she thought she decided that even thought she wasn't one hundred percent sure, that at the moment, she was sure enough to do something she had wanted to do for many years now.

"Mione?" she asked in a small voice. Hermione nodded, the tears starting to flow down her face. "My little girl?" and with a cry the two ran to each other and Jean flung her arms around her daughter. They were both sobbing as they embraced.

Harry and Cassie stood and watched as the two were reunited. Cassie had an open mouthed expression of extreme shock on her face, whilst Harry was smiling at the sight; his eyes slightly glassy with unshed tears.

"Come on Cassie, you can help me make some tea. These two will need a little bit of alone time I think." Harry told the young girl.

_#Thanks Harry, I love you; you know.# _came the metal reply

_#I know, and me too.#_ he thought back.

The pair left the living room and made their way to the kitchen.

"Harry, can I ask you something?" the young girl asked. Harry nodded to her, whilst filling the kettle.

"What's going on? Is that girl really my dead sister, and how did she do those things?" Cassie asked getting a little frightened.

Harry laughed a little before turning on the kettle and getting out some mugs.

"..and how come you know where everything is kept in our kitchen?" the young girl finished.

Harry finished putting the teabags in the cups and turned to his new sister-in-law. "Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure on what is going on, Hermione seems to think that something has changed the world and created a new reality, where everything is nearly the same but not. Yes she really is your sister, but in our reality Hermione never had a younger sister, nor did she die in a car accident, so I not sure what happening about that. As to how she could do those things, in our reality magic is real and Hermione is a witch, a very powerful witch..."

"Can you do those things?" Cassie interrupted. Without a thought Harry morphed into his Siberian tiger. The young girl yelped slightly and stood with her mouth hanging open. Harry slowly walked to her and licked her hand with his wet pink tongue. Despite herself, Cassie giggled and bent down to tickle his ears. Harry purred a deep purr and deliberately licked her face from chin to hair line, mimicking what he did to Professor McGonagall a few days ago.

"Stop it!" Cassie giggled as she tickled his ears. Harry moved away and morphed back.

"Yes, I can do all those things. As to how I know where your stuff is, in my reality I have spent some time at this house with your parents, and Hermione is my wife." Harry failed to see the look of anguish on Cassie's face when he mentioned the word 'parents'.

"Harry, there is something you need to know about my Dad." Cassie said in a slow voice. She was about to continue when an anguished cry came from the other room. Harry bolted to the living room to find Hermione on her knees, her mother's arms wrapped around her as she sobbed into her mother's shoulder.

"Mione, what's the matter?" Harry asked in confusion.

When she heard the sound of her husband's voice she phased to him, causing her mother to gasp as she felt her daughter fade away, only to see her re-appear in her husband's arms.

"I-I-I-It's my D-d-dad...He's dead!" she stuttered.

"What? How?" Harry asked as he held the sobbing girl in his arms. He slowly managed to get her to the sofa where they both sat. Hermione was still sobbing into his shoulder, so he turned to Jean, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Yes, Harry...I may call you Harry?" upon seeing the nod of her new son-in-law? She continued. "Yes it's true, Roger died five years ago. I guess it all started when our Hermione was killed. She was the victim of a hit and run attack, a few streets away from home. She had been out to the shops to get some sweets with her father, when as they were crossing the road a car came around the corner to fast and hit them. Hermione was closest and was badly injured. She cushioned the blow from Roger who only suffered a broken leg and cuts and bruises."

"Yes I remember that Mum, but in my world it was one of the first times I used magic accidentally. I guess I must of apparated Dad and I away, because in my world the car just missed us." Hermione said, her eyes red from crying.

"Well I guess than in your reality your magic must have saved your life, because in ours you were taken to the local hospital's intensive care ward. The doctors tried for days to help you but your injuries were too bad. They told me that you were brain dead and that the only kind thing to do was to let you go. I held your hand as you faded away. I nearly lost the baby due to the stress, but in October Cassie was born. "

"Yeah, I remember you been pregnant when I was nine, but I also remember you losing the baby when it was four months old. After that you told me that you had been told that you couldn't have any more children, something about them been too magical and too much of a strain on your body."

Jean nodded but didn't comment. She carried on with her story. "Well despite the pair of you been hit in broad daylight, no one ever was caught for the accident. Your father became obsessed with finding your killers and would patrol the streets looking for the car or the people he thought were inside at the time. After a time as Cassie was getting older he stopped doing it and seemed to be getting on little better. That was until five years ago when someone told him that they thought they knew the name of the driver of the car. It was a young man that was part of a gang, nasty piece of work who was very violent. Apparently he had been bragging about killing you in the local pub and someone overheard and told your father. Well Roger was incensed and went over to confront him. From what I have been told, Roger confronted him and they argued. Then the little twat laughed about something and your father snapped. He went for him but the man just calmly pulled out a gun and shot Roger at point blank range. He was killed instantly, but this time it was caught on CCTV, and the man responsible for both of your deaths was caught and is currently serving two life sentences." She finished her face looking anguished as the tale brought back sad and bitter memories.

"Where is he?" Hermione asked in a sad voice.

"Who the killer?" Jean asked confused.

"No, Dad! Where is my Dad?" Hermione told her.

"Oh! Well we buried him in the local cemetery. We go every Sunday after church to see him and to talk to him, let him know what we have been up to. I guess we have a real lot to tell him this time." She said with a wry smile.

"Can I go to see him?" Hermione asked. Jean nodded and told her that all of them would go with her. By now Cassie had made some tea and they were all sat in the living room drinking the hot drink. Hermione was still red-eyed and sat close to Harry, her mother was sat in the arm chair and Cassie was sat next to her new sister. As she drunk her tea she turned to Hermione.

"Hello Sis, we not formally met but I am Cassandra Hermione Granger and it's a pleasure to meet you." She said in a formal voice, holding out her hand.

Hermione looked at the younger girl; she could only be a Granger, with deep brown eyes and large untameable hair. Despite her sadness about losing her Father, she was delighted to have a little sister. All the way through her childhood she has wished for a sibling and to find one, even under such unusual circumstances was a blessing. Ignoring the hand she pulled her sister into a hug.

"Hello Cassie, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've always wanted a younger brother or sister, and now I have you."

Jean stood up and looked at the pair in front of here. She still wasn't one hundred percent convinced but was nearly there.

"Shall we go then? It's only a five minute walk to the cemetery?" she asked

Silently Hermione nodded and stood, Harry stood with her and took her hand. As it was still quite warm outside, no one bothered with coats as the part of four silently walked the short walk to the main cemetery in the town. It was quite a large plot, with many hundreds of graves neatly set out. Jean and Cassie led the way, both holding each other's hands until they came to a small granite headstone at the head of a well kept grave. Fresh flowers were at the grave side and the plot was very neat. Jean moved to one side so Hermione could read the marker.

Hear lies Roger Neil Granger

Born 5th June 1954

Died 3rd March 1991

Beloved Husband and Father

Taken from us too soon but you are now with your beloved Hermione

Rest in Peace Beloved.

Hermione read the stone and cried a loud cry of loss and pain as she collapsed to the floor. Any doubt that Jean had harboured was now gone, as she watched the grieving child. No one, no matter how motivated was that good an actress. As she watched Harry had knelt next to her as he tried to comfort the distraught girl. Her was holding her and gently stroking her hair as she sobbed into his chest.

"Daddy! Oh Daddy, please no!" she cried, her voice broken and the sound of which brought tears to Jeans eyes. Cassie was watching with wide eyes, she had little memory of her father been only three when he died, so although she was sad she didn't have him around, she had never faced the gut wrenching grief that her older sister was now facing.

Harry was trying to talk to Hermione but she was beyond speech, so he resorted to speaking in her mind.

_#Mione! Mione, listen to me. Roger isn't dead in our world. We have to find out what happened and put things right. Then this will have never happened, and Roger will be alive again. Hermione you have to listen to me.#_

_#H-H-H-Harry!, your right, but it hurts so much!#_

_#I know love, but this isn't our world, you know that#_

Slowly the sobbing subsided and Hermione eventually managed to pull herself around. Sadly she stood and looked at the grave.

"Dad, it's me, Hermione. I really don't know what to say to you, except that as you can see, I'm not dead. You shouldn't be either and Harry and I will sort this. Soon you will be back, trying to allow me permission to use my new Porsche car again and begging Harry to build a golf course at the manor." She looked around to see if anyone other than her family was watching and seeing that they were alone, she conjured a large handful of yellow roses, which she placed on the ground at the head of the grave. She kissed her hand and gently placed it on the headstone and turned to leave. They were about to all go when Harry gave a gasp, and put his hand to his mouth. The colour had drained from his face as he looked at the grave next to Rogers. He raised a shaking hand and pointed to it.

"Hermione look!" he rasped. Turning to see what had affected him so much, she was startled to see her own grave.

Hermione Jean Granger

Born 19th September 1979

Cruelly taken from us 14th September 1988

Our baby girl, sleep tight and study hard.

"Sweet Merlin!" Hermione breathed as she read the marker. She had gone all cold, goose bumps appearing all over her despite the warm sunshine. Silently she walked over and placed her hand on the stone, closing her eyes as she did so. Whispering she told herself that this wasn't happening. Harry meanwhile had conjured a single red rose that he placed on the grave.

"Hermione, can we go, this is really freaking me out." He told her. By this time Jean and Cassie had moved to the pair and Jean took hold of her daughter.

"Come on love, let's go home." She told her taking her hand. With her other hand she took hold of the now frozen Harry and gently pulled the pair away from the grave.

It was an even more subdued part that walked back to the house. However despite the sadness that permeated the group, Jean was now convinced that her daughter was alive. The longer she walked, the happier she became, until as they walked into the house she turned to Hermione and took the young woman in a long embrace.

"Oh my sweet baby girl, you came back!" she cried, happy tears now flowing down her face.

Just as they were talking the phone rang, Jean broke her hug with her daughter to answer it and they could hear her talking to the person on the other end.

"Hermione, it's for you!" she said startled.

"What, how is that possible, no one know I exist in this world, never mind that who would know I was here. Who is it?" Hermione asked her mother. After a brief conversation she turned back to Hermione.

"It's a Molly Weasley, apparently you came to see her earlier today and she needs to speak to you urgently."


	18. Chapter 17  What to do next?

**A/N A little shorter than normal, but I hope you enjoy. Please review.**

**Chapter Seventeen – What to do next?**

Hermione looked up in surprise and then at Harry with a questioning look in her eyes.

_#How on earth did she know where to find us, we didn't give her any details?#_

_#Well, there's only one way to find out Mione, and that's to speak to her.#_

Hermione walked over to the phone and took it off her mother.

"Hello, Mrs Weasley?"

"_Hello, yes, is that the young girl I spoke to earlier this morning, the friend of Ron's?"_

"Yes, Ma'am. How can I help you?"

"_Oh, thank goodness. Hermione, I may call you Hermione? Anyway I am at work, and I got a phone call from Luna's father. You know I said that she had been ill, well apparently she came over funny, and started talking about you and Harry. She said she needs to speak to you urgently, something about the world not been right. Xeno and Celeste were getting very worried and they called me. You see I work on a Neuro ward and I have dealt with people having delusions before. Anyway in one of her rants she told her father your full name and the name of your mother. I looked your mother's name up on the NHS database and found only a few Jean Grangers. This is the third I have rung; odd thing is you are registered as deceased."_

"Yes, well I'm sure that's just a glitch..." Hermione hurriedly pointed out.

"_Off course dear. Anyway, if I give you Luna's parents details do you think that you can contact them. They are desperate and Luna is really insisting to speak to you."_

"Yes of course Mrs Weasley", she wrote the details down as Molly read them out to her.

"_The other odd thing, how did you get to Crawley so quickly? You were down at our house only a few hours ago?"_

"Er well, you see I drive really fast...Is that all Mrs Weasley?" Hermione stuttered.

"_Yes dear, thank you for agreeing to see Luna, I'm sure that Xeno and Celeste will appreciate it."_

"Ok, goodbye Mrs Weasley."

After a few seconds she replaced the handset and turned around to look the others in the eyes.

"Well, that's a surprise."Harry announced. "So Luna's mother is alive in this world, but why does Luna need to speak to us?"

"Harry, how could you possible know what the conversation was about, you only heard Hermione's side?" Jean asked, perplexed.

"Mum, as I said earlier, Harry and I share a soul bond; what I know he knows and vice-versa. Plus he was listening in here." She said pointing to her head.

"You mean..really? Telepathic?" she asked

"Yes mum, really, we can feel each other's emotions and we can 'phase' to each other if needed. We are married mum, REALLY married as of the other night."

"So you really are Hermione Potter, not Granger?" Jean asked in a small voice, unsure about it all as well as her daughters use of the word 'phase'.

"Yes, mum, but I will always be your daughter." Hermione replied with a small smile as she moved over and hugged the older woman. "Now what are we going to do about Luna?" she asked.

"Potter? Potter? I'm sure that name means something..." Jean muttered to herself. "An old news report about a terrorist killing..."

"Mum, what's the matter?" Hermione asked.

"Oh it's probably nothing, but I'm sure I remember hearing about a family called the Potters, just after you were born. Let me look it up." Jean said and they all followed her to a small office. She switched on the PC and waited for Windows 95 to boot up. She then powered up the dial-in modem and waited a little longer whilst the modem whistled and pinged as it made its connection. Soon the screen showed the search engine and Jean typed in her query. After a while she whistled and looked at the pair.

"Here you better read this." She told them and moved out of the way to allow them to read the screen. It showed the headlines from an old newspaper. Hermione read it out loud so Cassie could hear.

"November 1st 1981. Potter family killed by terrorist group. Yesterday the family of a police officer were all brutally killed by an explosive device placed under the family car. James Harold Potter, an officer in the London counter-terrorism unit was taking his family; his young wife Lily Potter and there fifteen month old son Harry; on a family outing when the device exploded. All three occupants of the car were killed instantly, and three passersby were slightly injured in the blast. The terrorist group, Mortem Comendentis, lead by the infamous Tom Riddle claimed responsibility for the attack, citing that all anti-terrorist officers were viable targets. Police have stepped up security for all of its officers and their families. There will be a memorial service for the Potter family next week...Oh Harry!"

Harry had unshed tears in his eyes as he looked blankly at the screen.

"I knew they were dead in our world, I had just hoped that they would still be alive in this one, and I'm dead.. I mean the other me. Oh this is confusing." He murmured.

Hermione moved to hold him in a tight embrace, forcing Jean and Cassie to look on embarrassed by the emotions on show. After a while, Harry composed himself and looked over at Jean.

"Thank you Mrs Granger for finding this. As you can imagine it's a bit of a shock to find that you are supposed to be dead, but in our world my parents were also killed by Tom Riddle, only he was a dark evil wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort. I am the one fated to either kill him or to be killed trying, that is if we can restore our world." Harry told her.

"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry, is there nothing you can do about it?" Jean asked.

"Thanks Mrs Granger, but unless we can restore our world, the point is mute."

"Harry, are you sure you need to restore your world, do you both have the right?" Jean asked. When the both looked at her oddly she continued. "Well in your world, Roger is still alive and that's fantastic, but what about Cassie? Doesn't she deserve to live?"

The two teens starred at her in shock. "Mum..."

"Well its true isn't it. In your world Cassie was never even born was she? I love my daughter, how can I give her up?" Jean asked, with tears unshod in her eyes.

"Mum, I don't know what to say, at the moment, neither Harry or myself know much about what has happened, but your right, in our world Cassie was never born, but my Daddy... I don't know what to do?" Hermione replied in a conflicted voice.

"Hermione, until we speak to Luna, we don't know IF there is anything we can do. I agree that there are questions to be asked and one of them is do we have the right, but until we know more let's not worry about that." Harry told her.

Hermione sniffled and looked over at her new sister, who had been watching the whole scene with some trepidation. As Hermione looked over at her she let herself walk over to her big sister and allowed herself to be held.

"Cassie, I've never had a sister before and I want to get to know you. Will you let me do that?" Hermione asked her.

"Yes, big Sis. I would love to do that." Cassie replied.

After a moment, the two girls broke apart and Hermione looked over at her husband, her green eyes shining with tears. "Harry, what are we going to do next?"

"Well we need to find out more about what has happened. Is it just here that has been affected or the whole world? Has all magic gone or is it just humans?" Harry replied after a moment.

"Well normally I'd hit the books, but as Hogwarts no longer exists, then I'm not sure how we proceed."

"Well, there was always the library at the manor..."

"Yes, but does it still exist?" Hermione asked.

"Well there's only one way to find out, coming?" he asked her holding out his hand. She took it and they told her mum and sister that they would not be long and phased away.

The two women looked around in amazement at the now empty room.

"Wow, mum it's really real isn't it?" Cassie asked

"Yes love, I think it is." Jean replied with a smile as she stood to make some lunch.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

Meanwhile Harry and Hermione arrived at their destination. They both looked at each other as they looked around, both in shock but also a little amount of amusement.

"Harry it's not here!" Hermione said. They both were stood in a large field full of cows. The cows were looking at the intruders with curiosity that only a herd of cows can produce. One of them had wandered over and was nudging Harry with its nose.

"Gerrrof!" Harry said as he gently swatted the cow away, stepping into a cow-pat as he did so. "Euugh!, that's gross!"

Despite her sadness of the loss of the beautiful manor, Hermione couldn't help but to laugh at Harry's predicament. Despite his best intent, the cow seemed rather taken with Harry and as he moved away, trying to wipe the mess of his shoe, the creature followed behind, nudging him still with her nose.

"Mione! Please, that's not helping." He cried at her. This only made Hermione laugh more as the cow followed her husband around the field. Finally the cow seemed content to stand next to Harry. Hermione moved carefully over to her unhappy husband.

"Well get it back love, it's out home and we will get it back." She told him as she linked hands with him. As they both turned to leave a sudden wave of dizziness and nausea overcame the pair of them. The world in front of them seemed to waver and for a brief moment, the manor appeared in front of them before fading back to the empty field. As quickly as it came, the dizziness left them, leaving them feeling more than just a little queasy.

"What the hell was that?" Harry asked. "I saw the manor for a moment, did you?"

Hermione merely nodded, not trusting her stomach at the moment. Eventually, despite her green appearance she spoke.

"It seemed to waver for a bit then disappear, what does it all mean?"

"Not sure love, but unless we want to spend the rest of our lives making friends with cows, I suggest we get out of here." He said

"Where, back home?"

"No, let's try one last place first, let's go to Diagon alley." And the pair took hold of each other's hands and phased away, leaving a rather lonely looking cow that looked around for a while before returning to her eating.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

In a small corner of London stood an old rundown looking pub that stood on Charing Cross Road. It had been there for years and was often frequented by the less well off portion of the city. The Leaky Bucket's back yard had witnessed many events over the years, but this was the first time that two teenagers had magically appeared. Witnessed only by a bedraggled looking cat, what hissed at the pair before fleeing over a wall, the pair looked around for a while.

"Where are we now Harry?" Hermione asked Harry who shrugged and pointed to a small alley way that lead to the main road. They walked towards the exit and their senses were assaulted with the noise of the busy traffic on the road. Red London buses, black cabs and regular traffic roared past them, making them both flinch from the sudden assault. They both turned to look at the building they had arrived in front of, and saw the name of the pub.

"'The Leaky Bucket'? That's not right; it's supposed to be the Leaky Cauldron." Harry said

"Well, if it's right that there is no magic, then cauldrons have not been used for centuries, so why call the pub that. Come on let's see if we can find the entrance to the alley." She said.

"No need, love, look it's there" he said as he pointed to the small street that ran parallel with the pub. They both looked up at the sign on the wall.

'Diagon Alley – City of Westminster'

They both silently walked down the road. Its contours were familiar to them, but the shops were not. Gone were all the magical shops, only to be replaced by small gift shops, tattoo parlours, newsagents and the like. At the head stood a large white building with the name "Barclays Bank" written in blue writing across the door.

"It's gone, it's all really gone Harry!" Hermione said with an increasing sense of panic evident in her voice.

"Calm down love, yes it's all gone but we will..." Like before they suddenly felt dizzy and sick and before them Diagon Alley appeared for a few seconds. They even saw the Goblin Guards stood in front of the now Gringotts bank, before the magical street once again disappeared and the Goblins turned into two business men walking down the stairs of Barclays.

"Whoa, what the fuck was that?" Harry asked as he held his head, desperately trying not to vomit. The sick feeling was worse this time and Hermione was vomiting at the side of the road. A passer-by glared at them as he walked past, obviously thinking that they were drunk or worse.

"Sorry, bad seafood!" Harry told him, and he nodded and looked a little more charitable towards them. He reached into his pocket and produced a small packet of tissue's that he handed to Harry.

"There you go, I had a bad batch of muscles the other month, so I know how your girlfriend feels." And with that he carried on walking.

With a shrug, Harry passes one of the tissues to Hermione who cleaned herself up as best as she could. Turning she faced Harry.

"Harry, that was horrible. It felt like I was in two places at the same time and my body didn't know what to do. Why did we see the Alley, our Alley?"

"Not sure love, and yes it felt horrible, almost as if the two worlds were trying to be in the same place as each other. Are you up to moving about? We need to get back to your mum's house."

Hermione nodded and Harry helped her to her feet. They slowly walked back to the empty backyard of the pub before phasing back to the Granger residence, causing a scream to be heard in the street.

_D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M._

Joe Brown loved his job, it perfectly suited his personality. Fifty Four, overweight and balding, he was nothing to look at and he knew it. He lived alone, always had and always would. When he was a younger man he had discovered that he liked watching people, and not in a good way. He watched his neighbours as they went about their lives, he watched the women in the street, sometimes following them to their houses. He even watched the men, but only to see if they were doing anything wrong, if they did then he took great delight in telling the police and getting them into trouble. The truth was Joe Brown was a sneak, a nosey man and a wholly unpleasant man. That's why his job of CCTV operator for the local borough was perfect for him. He sat in his booth with many TV screens focused on all of life and its highs and its many lows. He enjoyed the day shift, been able to see the petty thieves, the lover's quarrels or the frantic parents looking for a lost child; but it was really the night shift he loved. All the darkness and dregs of humanity came out at night. The fights, the drunken squabbles, the break-ups, the make-ups. He loved them all, but he really loved it when he caught couples having sex. They thought that the little back-yard at the rear of the dingy pub was safe form the cameras, but unknown to them the camera in the next street could be turned to give Joe a perfect view of the yard and all of its seedy delights. He's seen it all in that little yard, sex, fights, urination and worse; even a murder once and he always kept a camera trained on the yard. Even though he was on the day shifts – it appeared that you couldn't do night-shifts all the time, something to do with health and safety - he still watched the yard. That was why on this day he witnesses something, no one had ever seen before. He'd already seen the two teens wandering around the Alley, he noticed them because they seemed so out of place somehow. He followed them down as they walked to the bank and had seen the funny turn that came over the pair of them. The pretty brunette had been sick and the man looked very unwell; drugs he'd assumed. So he watched them as they left in order to see what they did. As they approached the yard he'd got excited as he assumed that he would witness a drugs sale; that would give him a reason to call the police and get another award. The awards made him laugh – his bosses thought that he was very public spirited and a 'good-man'. Little did they know! Then the thing happened that made his jaw drop. The pair walked into the yard, took each other's hand and vanished in a slight swirl of colour. Joe couldn't believe it, he rewound the video tape that taped all the camera feeds and watched it back at half speed. The pair just vanished; he re-watched it, this time bringing up the camera's time-code feed to make sure it wasn't a camera glitch, and this proved that the camera was operating normally. The pair had somehow magically vanished into thin air. A cold sweat broke out down his back as he looked at the now empty back-yard. He had to report this, but to whom. The booth was equipped with a direct phone to the police desk, but it also had an extra phone that was liked directly to MI5, just in case of a terrorist threat or the like. With a shaking hand he picked up the red phone and pressed the only button on the phone.

"Hello, this is CCTV operative 5543 reporting. I need to speak to someone about something very odd..."

_D.O.M. D.O.M.D.O.M_

Jean Granger was sat at the kitchen table with her youngest daughter; they were both eating a sandwich that Jean had made for their lunch. Jean was silently looking into space as she ate and contemplated the day's events. Her daughter, her eldest daughter magically restored to her but married? The whole world was apparently wrong and her youngest daughter not supposed to exist! It was at times like there that she missed Roger the most. His steady mind and ability to remain un-phased by events was a quality that she had admired in the man and she missed him so much that it hurt. As she sat there eating her thoughts were disturbed by the sudden appearance of her daughter and son-in-law. They just popped into existence in front of her causing her to scream and drop her cup of tea, burning her leg in the process.

"Shit! Oops sorry Cassie! Oww my leg!" she said loudly.

Cassie giggled at her mother's use of profanity, but immediately became concerned about the burn on her mother's leg. As Jean had only been wearing a thin cotton skirt, the hot liquid had immediately burnt into the skin of her thigh, causing her to cry out in pain.

Hermione moved to her mother and took out her wand, and waved it over the wound, causing it to heal instantly leaving no mark or any pain. Jean looked at her daughter in amazement and gratitude.

"Thank you love that was amazing...look it hasn't even left a scar."

"That's okay mum, sorry for startling you." Hermione replied with a smile.

"Well dears, what did you find out?" Jean asked, but judging from the suddenly sad looking pair, she figured that it wasn't good news.

"Oh Mum, it's all gone. The Alley, the bank even our lovely house! It's all gone and we don't know why?" Hermione wailed as she hugged her surprised mother.

"Mione dear, I'm sure it will turn out for the best." Jean told her daughter, but deep down very unsure on how she felt, _'Could she trade her youngest daughter for her husband? Was it even possible?'_ she mused to herself. "What's next love?" she asked her

Hermione stood and wiped away her tears before holding her Harry's hand.

"We need to go see Luna now, would you both like to come with us?" She said

"Well I need to anyway; you're not driving on your own Hermione." Jean told her.

"Mum, we were not planning on driving." She told her with a slight grin.

"You mean...poof?" she asked, waving her hand as she did.

"Yes mum, poof!"

Cassie looked at her mum with an eager expression. "Mum can we please? It looks so cool!" her youngest pleaded, turning on her puppy dog eyes.

Jean laughed and turned to Cassie. "You can put them away, they stopped working on me years ago young lady."

"But mum!" Cassie drawled.

"Are you sure it's safe you two?" she asked them

"Yes Mrs Granger, it's perfectly safe for you both." Harry told her.

"Harry, as it seems that you are my son-in-law, do you think we can drop the 'Mrs Granger'? I'm sure you know my name by now."

With a smile Harry looked up at his mother-in-law. "Yes Jean, and I repeat it's safe for us to take you, if you would like to come with us."

"Okay, what do we have to do and how do you know where to go. We only got the address this morning?"

"Well, the first is easy, you just need to hold either mine or Hermione's hand and the second is just as easy. We know where Luna's lives already so we can 'phase' there no problem."

"Phase?" Jean asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well in our world most people use something called apperation, but it's noisy, has a limited range and not very comfortable. Hermione and I are a bit more powerful than most, and we found after we bonded that we can do something unique, we can silently move from place to place, distance makes no difference and it doesn't feel horrible. I called it 'phasing' for lack of a better word."

"More powerful, how much more powerful?" Jean asked.

Hermione looked at Harry before he raised an eyebrow. Jean could somehow tell that a conversation was taking place that she wasn't privy to but after a few seconds her daughter turned back to her.

"A lot!" was all she said, before holding out her hand for her mother who took it. Harry took Cassie's small hand in his and she smiled up at him shyly.

"Everyone ready?" Harry asked as with his other hand he took Hermione's. Everyone nodded, but Harry was amused to see both Jean and Cassie shutting their eyes and grimacing. He silently 'phased' the group to the lane just outside the Lovegood's house.

"We're ready Harry!" Jean said through pursed lips. Hermione laughed and let go of her mother's hand.

"We're already here mum!" she told her, causing her mother to open her eyes and gasp in astonishment.

"I didn't feel a thing!" she said.

"Wow, that was awesome!" Cassie said in excitement.

"Told you!" Hermione smirked. "Come on!" and they all followed her up the road to the house. Harry and Hermione were shocked to see that the house bore no resemblance to the one that they were familiar with, but was a neat thatched cottage stood in a pretty garden. The house looked very well kept and there was a small car parked in the driveway. After a brief pause, they shook their heads and walked up the drive-way. Ringing the bell, Harry took Hermione's hand and awaited the door. After a minute or two the door opened and a tall blonde man greeted them.

"Hello, how may I help you?" he asked. He was dressed in a smart business suit, and had short cropped hair with a tidy beard.

"Hello, yes, my name is Harry Po..."

"HARRY! HERMIONE!" came a shout as a small blonde girl flung herself at the pair.

"Oh my God, you're here. Please help me I'm so confused. Why am I not at Hogwarts – where ever that is?" she asked the startled pair.


	19. Chapter 18 - Luna Lovegood

**Chapter Eighteen – Luna Lovegood.**

Harry looked at the young blonde girl holding him like her life depended on it with a confused look. He also was very aware of four other sets on curious eyes as well as the emerald green ones of his Soul Mate on him.

"Luna, Luna you need to calm down please." He told the sobbing girl, as he tried to peel her off him. She however clung like a limpet to him. They had managed to move to the living room, after Luna's enthusiastic greeting when they had knocked on the door. It had taken both Luna's father and mother to peel their daughter of Harry and Hermione in order to allow them entry to the house. As soon as Harry had sat in the sofa, Luna had escaped her mother's clutches and had made a mad dash for Harry, throwing herself into his lap. She was still in this position now, as Harry tried to remove her from him, but she was having none of it. Harry, giving up for the moment, looked across at his wife.

_#Mione, what do I do?#_

He 'heard' Hermione laugh in his head before she answered. #_Well as long as you don't get any ideas of a threesome, then I'm okay with her where she is. She is obviously very traumatised by something, so let's leave her where she is for the moment.#_

Harry's eye widened at the mention of a threesome and he looked at Hermione aghast. _#Mione, you know you are the only women for me, now and forever.#_

_#Good, let's keep it that way shall we!#_

Jean was watching the interplay between her daughter and Harry. Now that she knew about their telepathy, she could tell that they were talking to each other, by the subtle changes in their expressions. Despite everything that had happened recently she smiled to herself. They look so good together with their matching eyes; the love they had for each other was palpable. She was aware that the blonde's parents were looking at the scene in front of them with confusion and worry. She, as a mother, could relate to that, so she smiled at the two with as much confidence as she could muster. Finally Luna's father attempted to gain some ground.

"Mr Potter, can you please explain to me why my only child is currently sobbing into your shoulder and will not let go of you. I wasn't aware that she even knew you?"

"Ah, Mr Lovegood that may be a long and difficult explanation..." as he spoke Luna suddenly lifted her head and loosened her grip on him. She swivelled around so she was sat in his knee, and took his hand in hers. She took Hermione's with her free hand and smiled at both of them before turning to her parents.

"Daddy, this is all very confusing, but until today I had never met either of these two people, yet I know that I have also spent four years at school with them in Scotland, and that they are my friends."

"Luna darling, you're not making any sense. I know for a fact that you have spent the last four years at the local school, not in Scotland."

"I know Daddy, but I also know that I have been to an odd boarding school in Scotland. As I said, it's very confusing. It's like been able to remember two lives, one that I know is real and that I can remember all of it, and the other is like a ghost. I catch fleeting glimpses of it now and then, and that's how I knew about Harry and Hermione."

Hermione was thinking hard. It seemed that Luna had some memories of her life at Hogwarts and that made her unusual. Whatever had happened to the world, no one else that they had spoken to felt that anything was wrong, so how could Luna remember? She became aware that the room was now silent, and that both sets of parents were looking at herself and Harry.

"Sorry, what was that?" she asked now aware that she had been spoken to.

"We said, do you two know anything about what is happening to our daughter? Have you two drugged her or somehow brain-washed her?" Mrs Lovegood asked again.

"Mum! Don't be silly. Harry and Hermione are good people." Luna said with some force.

"Yes dear, let your mother talk." Celeste dismissed her daughter. Luna scowled at her mother and held Harry's hand even tighter.

Hermione was still thinking, when suddenly an idea struck her. What if Luna, their Luna, had seen what was going to happen and had tried to protect herself. Hermione could remember reading about the ability of some witches and wizards to preserve memories inside their own heads. That was if they were obilviated then they could restore their memories from the saved section. What if Luna had pulled the same stunt? But it would need a key to unlock it, something that was typically Luna.

"Luna, look at me please" she suddenly said. Luna looked up and gazed into the emerald green eyes.

"Crumple-horned Snorkack!" she said in a loud voice. Luna suddenly began to fit as the memories unlocked in her head. Her eyes rolled back into her head and her body began to twitch uncontrollable. Predictably this was not well received by the adults in the room who all stood up and began to shout.

"Luna? What have you done to our Luna, you bitch!" Celeste cried as she tried to run to her daughter. Harry cast a shield spell around the three of them, causing Celeste to bounce of it. Xeno was making his way to the phone to call for the police when Harry glared at the phone. It suddenly exploded causing shards of plastic to fly across the room.

"What the fuck?" Xeno yelled before turning back to the scene on the sofa. Luna had by now stopped fitting and was slowly coming around. Harry dropped the shield and allowed Celeste to move to her daughters side.

"Mum, mum? Is that you?" Luna asked before throwing herself at her mother.

"Mum, you're dead, but how?" Luna asked in confusion.

"What? What are you talking about love?" Celeste asked.

"You died when I was nine, you were mixing a new potion and it exploded." She said and burst into tears as she hugged her mother. Harry looked at Hermione in confusion, but the look that Hermione returned was one of triumph.

"Would someone please tell me what the FUCK is going on around here?" Xeno Lovegood yelled, his patience finally giving out.

There was a long silence punctuated only by the soft sobs of Luna, still holding her mother. Finally Harry found his voice and began to speak.

"Sir - Ma'am, we are both very sorry for the intrusion in your lives, but we both know Luna, and it appears that she now knows us. Hermione and I are magical; that is I am a wizard and Hermione is a witch. I know this is difficult to believe for you both, but watch."

And with that he stood and quickly turned into his white tiger form. He stretched a little and walked around the room a little, past the open mouthed and frozen forms of Luna's parents. He padded over to Cassie and deliberately licked her face, causing her to giggle before he padded back to Hermione and changed back to his human form.

"And that is magic." He stated to the stunned pair.

"Oh my! Are we on drugs?" Celeste whispered from the floor where she was knelt with Luna. Luna's hand moved to her mother's cheek and she smiled up at her.

"No, Mum you're not. Magic is real and know I remember it all. I am also supposed to be a witch, and I go Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Daddy is a wizard in charge of a Wizarding newspaper called the Quibbler and you died when I was nine. Something happened though and time got changed. Something caused the entire world the change and the magic died. In the other world I had the power of Sight, I foresaw this happening but there was nothing I could do to stop it. All I could do was to protect my memories in a temporal bubble in my head. When Hermione said the key-word the bubble broke and my memories were restored to me. For some reason I knew that Harry and Hermione would survive the event with their magic intact, you are Soul bound aren't you both?" she asked Harry and Hermione. The couple nodded, stunned by what they were hearing.

"And I'm guessing that when the event happened you were finalising the bond? Yes, I thought so, with the magic you two possess, when that happened nothing in the universe could separate the two of you so you remained protected from the temporal storm that raged around you. The sex you two had protected you from it."

Both Harry and Hermione blushed as they looked at Jean and Cassie, Jean was looking scandalised but Cassie was grinning like a Cheshire cat at the uncomfortable look her sister and her brother-in-law had on them. Luna however ploughed on like an unstoppable machine.

"The problem as I can see it is that even though I remember my other life, I am not magical, I can feel no core nor do I have any feelings of the Sight. Can I borrow your wand for a second Hermione?"

Wordlessly Hermione handed over her wand to the young blonde who tried to cast a Lumos spell. As Luna had predicted nothing happened and she sadly handed the wand back to Hermione.

"Magic is genetic, even though I am no longer a Ravenclaw, I am still brilliant but with out the correct genes I have no magic." She said with no modesty; however it did not come across as bragging merely a fact. "I love school and I am good at it. I have studied genetics and with that and my newly restored knowledge it is so obvious that magic is a genetic trait. Recessive no doubt, hence the rareness but still just a genetic trait. If I was to guess, someone went back in time and stopped the first mutation from been carried on and hence it never was reproduced."

"Wow, Luna that's amazing. Your previous problems must have been caused by the memories trying to break free. Question is what do we do about it?"

"Why must we do anything about it?" Jean asked. "If things go back the way they were then I lose my daughter and it seems that Luna loses her mother. Maybe the world is better this way?"

Luna arched an eyebrow at the question and then looked at her mother. The tears sprung to her eyes, but remained there. She was about to speak when she was interrupted by Hermione.

"Problem is mum, I'm not sure that this world is stable." And with that she explained the two times when they both felt the world shift. Luna looked up alarmed at this news.

"Crap, then we are in trouble. If this time continuum in not stable then when it collapses...boom." she looked at the faces around her. "What? I watch sci-fi, you know that I am a Trekkie!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation her comments broke a tension barrier and everyone laughed at that. After a while Harry asked her to explain.

"Well I am no expert, but if what you say is true, according the Alan Guth's theory of Parallel Universes, we are living such a universe. With time travel, you cannot go back and change things. If someone used magic to go back in time and in doing so caused magic to not exist, then how could the person of used magic to go back in time?"

"A paradox!" Hermione breathed.

"Yes, a paradox. Now according to what I have read at school, then the only way in which this works if instead of time changing, the world does, it flips to another parallel universe. The original is still there, just running alongside and unseen. From what you are saying though, the original is breaking through and you know what happens when two objects try to occupy the same space, annihilation!"

"How do you know all of this Luna?" Harry asked.

"I read, I read a lot and I love physics and biology the most. School have allowed me to sit my exams early and I am already up to university standard for biology and graduate level for physics. My tutor is a well know physicist and we talk a lot about this sort of stuff. We would be better to speak to him about it to be sure."

"Can we trust him?" Hermione asked.

"Oh yes, he's brilliant but a bit of a hippy. He'd love all of this."

"What's his name?" Harry asked.

"Professor Albus Dumbledore." Luna replied with a grin.

Neither could help it, both burst out laughing at the name. "Really? Albus Dumbledore is a noted physicist? And a Hippy?" Harry coughed out.

"Well yes, he's quite famous; I don't see what so funny."Xeno asked. If he was honest with himself he was totally lost with most of the conversation. He was painfully aware that Luna got her brains from her mother, a noted scientist in her own right. He was merely a newspaper editor in Fleet Street; sure he was well paid and reasonably successful, but he was aware that his wife was the brains of the outfit.

"Well, he...he is..was...is oh bugger it! Albus Dumbledore is our headmaster at Hogwarts. He used to be the most powerful wizard since Merlin." Harry replied

"Merlin?" Celeste asked.

"Crap! You mean you've never heard of Merlin?" Harry asked.

"No, should we of done?" came the reply

"What about King Arthur, Camelot, the knights of the round table?" Harry asked.

"Nope!"

"Ooookay. Not important; anyway he was the most powerful wizard alive in our world."

"Was? That implies that he no longer held that title."

"No, Hermione and I are much more powerful now." He said without any sign of boasting. Like Luna before he was just stating a fact.

There was a moment of silence as this information was processed. "By how much?" Jean asked echoing the question she had asked before they left their house. She received the same reply

"A lot!" was all the pair was prepared to say.

After a period of awkward silence Harry finally asked Luna where they could find Professor Dumbledore.

"Oh he'll be at the University today teaching. We will not be able to see him until tomorrow."

"We?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes Harry, 'we'. You did not think that I would let you go alone did you? Professor Dumbledore does not know you two in this world, but he does know me."

_#Harry, let her come. It's not like we are going to run into any Deatheaters in this world, and we do need her help.#_

_#You sure love? It may be dangerous?#_

_#How?#_

_#Errr, not sure, but you know what my luck is like#_

Hermione laughed out loud causing the others to look at her as if she was mad. Hermione blushed and apologised. "Sorry, but we were talking in here." She said pointing to her head. "Harry said something that made me laugh." Everyone looked at the pair for a moment before Xeno shrugged his shoulders. 'Just another thing he didn't understand about this conversation' he thought to himself.

"Luna love, are you sure you need to do this, after all this world has been here for millions of years, I'm sure it will be fine." Xeno said.

Luna resisted the urge t roll her eyes at her father. She loved him, but he just didn't get physics. "Dad, if we are right, then this world is only a few days old. All of our memories are an illusion; all of our history is fake. This world is unstable and if I am right then we won't have too long before it annihilates itself."

No one knew what to say to that statement, so they all sat in silence for a while.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

Deep in the bowels of MI5, a junior agent was opening his order for the day. This was normal practice for a junior agent, they would come to work and work on the project they had been given. Once finished they would be sent a new project in a locked attaché case with the words 'Top Secret' written on it. What was not normal was the fact that this case was marked urgent and had been delivered whilst he was still working on another case.

Agent Jonathan Bond, and yes, he had endured all the jokes that his names endured, cautiously keying in his personal I.D. code into the small keypad fitted to the top of the silver metal case. With a click the locks released themselves and he withdrew the thin file. Opening it he read the short summery and nearly laughed out loud. 'Was this a joke?' he thought to himself. Despite himself he checked the calendar to see if it wasn't the 1st of April. Satisfied that it wasn't he re-read the file. There was a video id code for him to review and he turned to his desk computer and entered the appropriate code. The screen showed the CCTV footage that had been sent. He watched as the two teenagers walked into the yard and take each other's hand before vanishing. He gasped and rewound the footage, playing it back frame by frame. This was no prank, as he checked the time-code. It seemed that the pair had indeed vanished into thin air. Pausing the footage just before the pair disappeared; he enlarged the grainy black and white image to show the pairs head and shoulders. Activating the enhancing software, he created a much sharper image of the two teenagers.

"Well well who have we here?" he muttered to himself. He sent the image file to the master database to search for any image on the police or security forces database. Humming to himself he stood to make a cup of coffee as the computer processed the information.

"Morning 007, how's life treating you?" drawled the voice of Stephen Bainbridge. '007' they all called him that and he hated it. Bainbridge seemed to take great delight in tormenting his college however.

"Fine Bainbridge fine." He replied curtly.

Bainbridge laughed and walked off whistling that blasted theme song. Grimacing Jonathan made his way back to his desk, coffee in hand. As he sat he was surprised to see that the computer was flashing a message that stated – 'Match Found – One file found - Click to view' clicking on the icon he read the police file from Scotland. It showed a good image of the two; saying that they had been apprehended naked in a castle in north Scotland earlier today. He chuckled at the report, but then looked at the time on the file, and then the time of the CCTV report. 'How the hell did they get from Scotland to London so quickly?' he asked himself.

"So Harry and Hermione Potter, who or what are you two?" he quietly asked himself as he picked up the phone to speak to his supervisor.

"Sir, I think we have a case for the special branch...yes Sir I will transfer the intel to you now. Thank you Sir, yes I will Sir."

He hung up the phone and replaced the file in the silver attaché case. Clicking on transfer on the computer he keyed in his superiors details and clicked 'Send'. Placing the case in the 'out' section of the office he returned to his previous file. The file was sent from manager to manager, each time it climbed the ladder of importance before the director sent it to the computers of Special Branch for them to deal with.

Deep in the bowels of the basement, an agent opened the computer file in a small office that read 'Special Branch' on the door. He was an untouchable, a non-person. As far as the world knew he did not exist. He sat and slowly read the file and watched the CCTV footage. Looking at the Scottish police report he quickly typed both names into a computer. The names both popped up results. Apparently Harry Potter was dead, killed as a toddler by a terrorist incident. In fact he remembered the event, been a junior agent at the time. Hermione Potter initially came up a blank, but as he watched the name came up in conjunction with another, one Hermione Granger. The entry was linked to a hospital database that had been searched earlier today, both names had been keyed in. It seemed that Hermione Granger was also dead, killed in a hit and run in 1988. This file was getting weirder. He tapped his pen against his glasses and smiled. This was going to be interesting. He picked up a red phone and pressed the one button on it. The button had a small label next to it that read "Prime-Minister"

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

It had been agreed that Harry and Hermione would come back in the morning to take Luna to meet Professor Dumbledore. The Lovegoods, with the exception of Luna had watched in amazement as Harry and Hermione 'phased' themselves and Jean and Cassie away. Appearing back in the kitchen of the Granger house, both teens appeared tired.

"It's been a long day love, where are we going to sleep. We cannot go to the manor, as it doesn't exist." Harry asked.

Jean overheard this and spoke up. "You can stay here. Hermione's room has never been touched and we also have a spare room for Harry."

"Mum, that's really nice of you, but Harry is my husband. If we do stay he will be with me."

Jean didn't look too happy about that but slowly nodded. "Well, I guess you are both adult enough to make that decision, but please don't make me a grandmother yet."

As she said this, tears sprung into Hermione's eyes. "That's what Dad said to me." Harry hugged here and spoke quietly to here.

"We'll get him back, don't worry."

"But what about Cassie?"

Harry didn't know what to say and just looked lost.

They slowly made their way up to Hermione's old room. Opening the door caused Hermione to gasp. The room was like a shrine to her nine year old self. There were school books as well as others neatly on a shelf. Stuffed animals were sat on the small bed, which was made with a brightly coloured cover. Posters of horses were on the wall and there was a small desk with half done homework still sat there.

"We cannot stay here Harry, this is wrong. I remember this room; I remember finishing this homework...I got an 'A' for it. Let's go to the spare room."

She led him to another room that contained a double bed and very little else that said someone owned the room. It was clearly a spare room that wasn't used very often. There were however fresh sheets on the bed.

"This is better, come on I'm shattered. It's been a long odd day."

They slowly undressed and washed in the small en-suite. As they were not prepared for been away they had no night clothes so they climbed into bed naked. As they settled there was a knock on the door.

"Can I come in?" Jean's voice asked.

Hermione pulled the covers up to her neck and blushed. "Yes Mum, we're decent."

Harry sniggered, earning himself a dig in the ribs as the door opened and Jean walked in.

"Your room too weird?" she asked.

Hermione nodded. "Sorry Mum."

"Don't be, I should have cleared it years ago. I just couldn't bring myself to touch anything other than to clean it. Silly really but it made me feel that you were still here, just about to come home and finish your homework."

"Mum, its okay, we will fix this. It's what we do."

Jean smiled and kissed her daughter on the forehead. She moved across and gently kissed Harry the same way.

"Thank you for bringing her back to me Harry. Sleep well." And with that she left.

"Come on Harry, let's get some sleep. Something tells me tomorrow is going to be just as difficult as today."

She snuggled up to Harry, and enjoyed the feeling of his naked body pressed up to hers. With a long kiss they settled down to sleep.


	20. Chapter 19 - Dumbledore?

**Sorry for the log wait, but do you like the new cover? Also ten FF points (?) to the first to guess where the tea conversation is from. I will credit the section in my next update with the original author but wanted to see if anyone spotted it. Ta M.**

**Chapter Nineteen – Dumbledore?**

Hermione Potter woke confused and disorientated. 'Where the hell am I?' was her first thought as she looked around the almost empty room. She did a mental checklist, starting with the most important thing in the world for her – Harry. 'Check – snoring gently and looking gorgeous' she thought with a small smile. As she went through her mental check list the events of the previous day came flooding back to her. Magic was dead, with the exception of her and Harry. The world had changed, but the change was not stable. Reality was strained to its limit and soon, very soon something would give. As she lay there contemplating there tasks, she became aware of Harry...well a part of Harry pressing into her bottom. She grinned in the half light and shuffled so that his length slipped between her now wet legs. She sighed with pleasure as she felt him wake and gently move to enter her. His arm had moved around to cup her breasts and his fingers were gently teasing her nipple. They started to move against one another, Hermione giving out a soft involuntarily moan when they both heard a voice shout.

"Hermione, Harry! Breakfast...Now! Or I'll send up Cassie!" Jean shouted.

This was the mental equivalent of an ice cold bucket of water been thrown over them. Hermione jumped up forcing Harry out of her with a painful jolt. Yelping in pain, Harry's erection fell quicker than a tower of cards in a strong breeze.

"Harry, Merlin I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" she gasped as she turned to him. Truth be told when she stood up, he rubbed against her so hard that she nearly came at the feeling.

"Its' okay love, you moved just a bit quick for me!" came the squeaky reply.

Despite herself, Hermione couldn't help but giggle at the vision of a naked Harry bent over cupping his manhood and grimacing.

"Hey it's not funny!" came the indignant cry.

"Well it is a bit!" she giggled.

Harry re-assed the situation and caught a vision of himself through Hermione's eyes. He did look rather ridiculous and his lips curled into a smile that broke out into a snort of laughter. This was too much for Hermione who broke down and cried with laughter. It was this scene that Cassie burst into a few minutes later. Her totally naked sister and her equally naked husband, his modesty hastily covered with a pillow, rolling around howling with laughter.

"Whaaaa?" she mumbled unintelligently, blushing at the amount of naked skin on show. Immediately turning away, she told the pair that breakfast was on the table and fled the room. This caused Hermione to laugh even more, but Harry was embarrassed about been naked in front of the young girl. Eventually they managed to get dressed and make their way down to the kitchen.

"Morning you two, finished traumatising your younger sister?" Jean asked with a barely concealed grin.

"Sorry mum, sorry Cassie." Hermione mumbled as she helped herself to a slice of toast.

"What are your plans for the day?" Jean asked as she buttered her own toast.

"Well we plan on phasing to Luna's to pick her up to go see Professor Dumbledore. After that, not sure, we need to find some way of changing the world back but keeping Cassie in it. We really need to find someone who knows about magic and stuff, but no one is left in this world." Hermione told her.

Harry had been thinking about this for a while and spoke up. "Mione, we know there are no humans left in this world with magic, but what about other creatures. Magic itself is still here, that fact we can use magic proves that, so what about others?"

Hermione thought about it for a while before answering him. "Well we know that in this world Merlin didn't exist even in stories. Mum, are there any stories or fairy tales about magic or magical people?"

"What like, Unacorns or such?" she answered

"Unacorns? Don't you mean Unicorns? Horse like creatures with a long silver horn?"

"Well we call them Unacorns and the horn is golden but yes we have stories about them. Off course they are not real; only stories."

"Well they sound similar, but in our world they are real, they are rare but real enough. What about Dragons and the like...Hey what about Centaurs?"

"Centaurs? You mean half man half horse? There have been stories about them for centuries. Some people think they really exist but no evidence has ever been found."

"Fantastic, then they still exist in this world. Stories like fairy tales often have some basis in fact. Harry we need to find the centaurs, they may be able to help us" Hermione said excited.

"That's great Mione, but where do we look?" Harry asked.

"Mum, have there ever been any reported sightings in the UK?" Hermione asked.

"No love, not to my knowledge. The alleged sightings seem to be either in America or in central Europe."

"Where in Europe?" Harry asked

"Well I'm no expert on Fairy stories, but them seem to be originated in Romania. Do you mean to tell me that Centaurs are real?"

Hermione laughed and with a smile told her mother that they were in their world so she had no doubt that they would be in this one.

"Ok, but how can they help you?" Cassie asked.

"Well in our world, Centaurs are seers and mystics. They know a lot about the future and the past so they may be able to perceive the change the world has undergone. Hopefully they will have an idea on how to put thing right again."

Breakfast conversation turned to more mundane matters before Jean stood to take Cassie to school, her cold finally gone and unable to convince her mother to have any more time off sick.

"I'm off to work as well so I will see you too later?" she asked. The couple nodded and Hermione hugged her mother as she left with her sister, leaving the two teens sat at the kitchen table.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

Unseen by anyone two people watched Jean and Cassie leave the house from the back of a white Transit van.

"Targets three and four have left the building. Unit Zulu follow and maintain visual. Targets one and two are still inside. All other units maintain visual."

On one of the monitor screens in the van was a thermal image showing the two teens sat at the kitchen table. Overhead unseen by anyone was a helicopter with a powerful camera trained on the house. Another unit was following Jean's BMW as she drove Cassie to school.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M

"You ready to go Harry?" Hermione asked. They were now dressed and Hermione was shouting up the stairs to her husband who was still in the bathroom.

"Coming!" he shouted as he ran down the stairs into her waiting arms. Kissing her he smiled.

"Mione, despite everything that has happened I want you to know I love you more every day that I am with you."

Hermione smiled and kissed Harry hard, the kiss deepening as she sought entry to his mouth. Finally breaking away and looking flushed she smiled.

"Come on you, we had better go otherwise we may never get there." They walked to the back garden and took each other's hand.

"Ready?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded and they both phased away to the Lovegood's house.

"All Units, Targets have...vanished! I repeat Targets just vanished. What the Fuck was that?"

"Greyhound one! Keep comments like that to yourself. Unit Alpha-One; enter property and check. Hotel Whisky One, check video recording and relay to base. Unit Zulu – bring in Target three."

The camera operator in the Helicopter rewound the tape and watched it carefully. It clearly showed Harry take Hermione's hand and vanish into thin air. Gulping slightly the camera operator sent the footage to the control van.

"Trap one, footage sent to you. Repeat footage sent. Orders sir?"

"Hotel Whisky, return to base for fuel but do not stand down. Copy?"

"Copy that sir, returning to base."

Inside the white Transit, Major Steve Stewart swore to himself as he watched the video feed back. He had seen the CCTV footage but hadn't quite believed it to be true, but there it was; right in front of him. The two figures vanished into God knows where, but worse than that – He had lost them.

"Everyone, stand down and return to base. Maintain communication with all CCTV operators and computers to see if we can restore contact. We will interview the mother in the meanwhile and take it from there people." He said into the two-way.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M

Two people 'phased' into existence just outside the Lovegoods pretty cottage completely unaware that there leaving the house in London had been seen. Hand in hand they walked up the path to the front door and knocked on it.

"Coming!" came the shout and soon the door was opened by Luna. "Hey you two, I'm nearly ready. It takes a lot longer to do stuff without magic."

Harry laughed as he followed the blonde into the house. Sat at the table were her parents, neither looking too pleased to see them.

"Mr Lovegood, Mrs Lovegood how are you both doing?" Harry asked politely.

Celeste smiled weakly at him whilst Xeno grunted.

"You must forgive my parents. After you both left yesterday we had words and they both are not too happy with me. It seems that when you released my memories I became the Luna I am supposed to be and they were a bit startled by some of the conversation. It seems they blame the pair of you for this situation despite me telling them that it is not your fault."

"Luna dear, if you get your way then the world will go back to the way you say it's supposed to be but your mother will be dead. How can you want that?" Xeno asked her in an exasperated voice.

Luna looked up at her father with tears in her large silver blue eyes. "Daddy, that's not what I want. I love Mummy and if I could stay with her then I would, but you know what we said yesterday. This reality is not stable. If we don't do this then everything, everyone will cease to exist. We cannot let that happen."

"So you say love, but how can you be sure." Xeno asked

"Well if we are wrong then nothing will happen will it?" Luna replied with a sad smile.

"Luna love, are you sure about this?" Celeste spoke for the first time.

"Yes Mum, I am. You cannot deny the magic Harry and Hermione showed you yesterday, can you?"

"No Luna. Please just be careful." Xeno said as Celeste's eyes filled with tears. Xeno looked up at Harry and Hermione with a stern look on his face.

"I am entrusting my daughter to you two. Please look after her and keep her safe. How are you getting to Oxford to see the professor? Driving?"

"No Sir, we will use magic to get there, that's one of the reasons we need Luna to come with us. Hermione and I can phase anywhere in the world, but we need to be able to 'see' the location in our minds first. As we have never been to Oxford we need Luna to 'steer' us."

Xeno looked confused, "Phasing is that thing you did yesterday when you vanished? That's how you got here this morning isn't it?"

Harry nodded and looked Xeno in the eyes. "It's perfectly safe sir, Luna will come to no harm."

"Ok then Harry, but I am trusting you to have her back this evening at the very latest." Xeno told him sternly.

"Yes sir, I swear that nothing will happen to Luna if I can at all prevent it." Harry told him. Xeno nodded to him and turned to his daughter.

"Luna, be safe and be good please. Do you have your mobile?"

Luna took out a largish clam shaped device. "Yes Dad, I have my new one." Mobile phones were relatively new and not many people had them, but Xeno had managed to acquire a couple of Motorola StarTAC phones because of an article he had written on the future of telecommunications. He had kept one but given the other to his lonely daughter.

"Well good, well off you go then." He told her, kissing her forehead. Celeste also kissed her daughter and nodded to the other teens. Harry took hold of Luna's hand. Looking deep into her eyes. "Luna, you need to concentrate on where you want us to go, and we will do the magic."

"Harry, I know about apperation, even if I cannot do it. Don't worry I know what to do." She took Hermione's other hand and shut her eyes to concentrate. With barely a sound the three of them vanished causing Celeste to scream a little in surprise.

"They will be fine love, don't worry." Xeno told her.

"But what if they are right and the world is wrong. What if I have to die for the world to be fixed? I don't want to die..."

"But you would to save Luna?" he asked as she was unable to continue her conversation.

"Yes, without a second thought."

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M

In a small secluded section of Christ Church collage in Oxford three people appeared in the shadows. This was totally unseen by anyone and the three quickly left the room and entered the busy collage. Harry and Hermione were tall enough to pass as students, but Luna was still quite small. However as they walked she was receiving the occasional nod from passing students, her presence seemingly unremarkable to everyone as they were used to the odd girl been at there collage. As they trio passed into a larger area, a CCTV camera routinely scanned the room and sent the images to the security centre. The advanced computer software scanned the faces and found that two of them were on a security list. This information was sent at the speed of light to the appropriate authorities. Deep in the basement of the MI5 building a computer chirped.

"_All Units, the targets have been re-acquired. Targets are at Christ Church collage in Oxford. All Units converge and pick-up. Copy?"_

"Copy that Trap one...how the hell did they get to Oxford so fast?"

"_I think we all want to know that Greyhound one, but let's keep the comments to a minimum."_

"Sorry sir, Hotel Whisky is airborne now sir, ETA 20 minutes sir."

"_Roger that, we will follow by car. ETA 55 minutes. Apprehend but do not hurt. Oh and Captain Yates; they are only kids so treat with respect."_

Unaware of all this, Harry and Hermione were been lead by Luna to a large study that had the name 'Professor Albert Dumbledore, PhD, FRS, FRSA' engraved on it. Luna knocked on the door and a familiar voice called out to them.

"Come in!"

Luna grinned at the other pair and opened the door. Inside was an old looking study with dark oak panelling covering the walls. On one side was a long bookcase filled with large looking tomes. There was a bay window that looked out onto the grassy quad in front of the office. Sat in large red leather chair behind a messy desk was Albert Dumbledore. However this wasn't a Dumbledore that Harry and Hermione initially recognised. He was wearing a faded pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt that had a large mouth and a tongue sticking out. There were the words, 'Stones world tour' emblazed on it. Albus did have long grey hair, tied back into a loose pony-tail, but his beard was trimmed into a neat goatee. He was wearing small round glasses, and had a number of ear-rings attached.

"Luna! How is my favourite young physicist?" he asked with a small grin.

"Fine Professor. These are my friends Harry and Hermione Potter. I e-mailed you about them last night."

"Ah yes, the travellers from another dimension? How are you both, this world treating you okay?" he asked with a grin on his face.

"You don't believe me Professor?" Luna asked in a sad voice.

"Luna, love. Whilst the theory for parallel universes is sound, after all I helped write most of it, travel between them is just not possible at this stage. The energy required would be immense."

Harry spoke at this point. "Sir, good to meet you ...again. I understand your scepticism, but we haven't travelled from one universe to another. The whole world has and we think it's unstable."

Albert grinned and stood and walked to another little side-room.

"I think we need some tea for this discussion, everyone?"

They all nodded and Luna grinned. "He will ask you if you want sugar and milk."

"Harry, milk?"

"Yes please."

"One lump or two?"

"One please."

"Sugar?"

Luna giggled whilst Harry looked puzzled. This questioning was repeated for Hermione, who had got the gist of Dumbledore's mind.

"Hermione, milk?"

"Yes please?"

"One lump or two?"

"One please and no sugar."

"Ahh, well done." Dumbledore said returning with a tray of tea mugs and smile. He passed out the mugs and sat in a large armchair, motioning that the others to sit in the long leather sofa.

"Now I think an explanation is required. How come you two have managed to convince one of the brightest minds that I have encountered that this absurd story is true?"

Harry sighed and once more repeated the story about the loss of magic.

"Magic? You mean science?" Dumbledore asked.

"No sir, Magic." Hermione replied and she morphed into her Snow-Leopard form for him. Dumbledore leapt to his feet, throwing his tea to the ground as he backed away from the large cat.

"Whoa! What the hell?" he stuttered, eyes popping almost from his head. He was even more amazed when Hermione changed back to her form. Noting the smashed tea cup, she took out her wand and whispered, "Repairo!" The cup repaired itself and flew to her hand.

"Tea?" she asked him. Dumbledore nodded, and watched in amazement as the cup filled with hot tea once more.

"Milk?" she asked him. He nodded silently.

"One lump or two?" by now she was grinning, and Dumbledore also had an odd smile on his face as he completed the joke.

"One please and two sugars." He gulped as she handed him the tea mug back, taking a sip he smiled. It was the best cup of tea he had ever tasted. "So that's magic then?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yes sir" Hermione replied and the conversation began once more, with the pair explaining all about Hogwarts and their thoughts about someone changing time. Albert listened intently, asking the odd question here and there. After a while he became very excited and rushed to an old blackboard and began to scribble complex looking maths on it, muttering to himself the whole time. After a while he gave a triumphant shout.

"Yes, that's it. Come look." They all got up and walked to him. He drew a long line on the board.

"This is the original time line, timeline alpha let's call it. As you can see, time moves from point to point in a linear progression. Now this is the point in the past when the genes for magic must of been born." He said pointing to an early dot on the line. "And this is a few days ago. If someone was to travel back to a point in time before and just at the birth of those genes and stop that person from passing those genes onto the next generation then we would create a second timeline, timeline beta." He had drawn a parallel line to the first, but one that began at the birth of magic point he had earlier pointed out to them. "Now he has to create a new timeline because he cannot alter the original. If he did he would create a paradox and they aren't allowed."

Everyone nodded, Luna enthusiastically and Harry and Hermione a little less so.

"So we are all living in the second time line, but look, according to this math, it's unstable. The universe cannot power the both." He said pointing to some meaningless jumble of numbers and letters. They all nodded as it they understood it.

"But sir, how did Harry and I remain unchanged when the timelines changed?" Hermione asked.

"Well if what you and Luna have told me is correct, in your magical world Soul bonds exist. I mean you two share souls?" they nodded.

"Well in that case you must of been having sex for the first time when the change occurred." He told them, unconcerned about their blushes. "If what you say is true, then when you did that you completed the bond creating an unbreakable link between the two of you. If the change had affected you, then you would have never met, in fact you would both be dead in this world. It seems that the universe couldn't allow that to happen so you were protected, and here you are."

"Sir, you said that the math tells you that this timeline is unstable? How long have we got and what will happen when it collapses?" Harry asked.

"Well, look at the math, they answers are all there!" he almost shouted.

"Sir, let's assume that I'm not a noted physicist and that the math you refer to is just a meaningless jumble of numbers and letter. Can you explain it to me in English?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry as if he were mad, but took a deep breath.

"Harry, this timeline will last a few months at the most, well to be exact, two months and twenty three days, four hours, five minutes and 34 seconds – give or take a few. When it collapses it will destroy this world, and millions around it. The human race will never have existed."

No one spoke for a long while. Eventually Luna spoke up. "Is there anything we can do to stop it sir?"

"Normally no Luna, but if Harry and Hermione are right about magic, then it's just possible for them to go back to the time when the original change occurred and stop it. If they can do that then the timeline will slip back to the original. None of this would have happened and Harry and Hermione would find themselves back where they started. They would be the only ones to remember any of this."

"Oookay, now how do we do that? As far as we can tell we are the only ones with magic left in the world. There are no books for us to consult or anyone to ask. We are both very powerful but we have no knowledge on how to achieve that sort of magic." Harry said.

"Well if your thoughts on centaurs are to be believed they may be able to help you. You have to go and find them, for the whole world you have to find them and stop this from happening."

Just then the door burst open and four armed men in black uniforms came into the room. They had their weapons drawn but at the moment they were not pointing them at anyone. They were followed by a tall man in a military uniform.

"Mr Harry Potter?" Harry nodded, aware that he could get himself and Hermione to safety, and probably stop the men, but at the moment he wanted to see what they wanted.

"Miss Hermione Granger?" the man asked.

"No, it's Mrs Hermione Potter." Hermione corrected him

"Good, I am Captain Yates and on behalf of her Majesty Government, we are to take the pair of you in for questioning regarding a matter of national security. If you would both come with us; In order to allow us to speak to you, you mother has graciously become a guest of ours, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. She will be unharmed and well treated...so long as you both co-operate."

"Mum! How dare you?" Hermione shouted as she moved forward towards the men, who all raised their weapons at her.

_#Easy Mione, even with our power, a bullet will kill you. Jean is safe at the moment, let's keep it that way.#_

_#What do they want?#_

_#Not sure, but let's find out.#_

The conversation had taken less than a second and the intruders were unaware of it taking place. Captain Yates glared at Hermione as he spoke.

"Mrs Potter, do not try anything. If we do not return with you, then it will not go well for your mother...or your little sister."

"You bastard! What have we ever done to you? We are just kids!" Hermione told him. Yates just raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"Now look here! I don't know who you are, but you have no right to burst in here and threaten my guests. I demand that you stand down and leave here." Dumbledore told them.

"You have no right to demand anything old man!" The Captain told him.

"Old man! Do you not know who I am?" Dumbledore told him rising to his full height.

"Yes, Professor Albert Dumbledore, we know who you are, and you will also be coming with us, along with Miss Lovegood here. Now less chat and more action. MOVE!" he yelled using his pistol to point in the direction of the door. One of the soldiers came forward and placed handcuffs on all four of them, keeping their hands behind their backs as he did so.

#_Easy Mione, we can get out of here anytime we want, but we need to make sure that Cassie and your mum are safe first. Let's go with them and see what happens.#_

_#Okay Harry, but if they hurt either my mum or Cassie...#_

_#I know, and I will help you, but let's keep calm at the moment.#_

They were all bundled put of the room and down the corridor, starling a number of students who watched them pass. As they got out of the collage they were taken to a small playing field where a large looking helicopter was waiting, its rotors still spinning. They were forced on board and blindfolded before the pilot brought the engines to full power and they were off.


	21. Chapter 20 - Her Majesty's Pleasure

**A/N Sorry for the long wait, been working on my other story. Anyway please enjoy and review. Happy Christmas everyone.**

**Chapter Twenty – Her Majesty's pleasure.**

They all felt the helicopter land and they were all roughly taken from the belly of the metal beast. Harry could feel the fear emanating from Luna, and to a lesser extend the physics professor, but Hermione and he had been communicating all the while they were in the helicopter, and even now Hermione was memorising the route that the soldiers were taking as they were been taken into the building. He could feel the worry she had for her mother and sister, but this was been over-shadowed by a sense of anger and determination.

They were all separated and searched. Luckily neither Harry nor Hermione had there wands removed, as they were both hidden in a wand holster attached to their forearms. Finally Harry heard a door open and he was roughly pushed into a room where the handcuffs and blindfold were removed. He found himself in a small cell with a bed, table and chair as well as toilet facilities in the corner. In all four corners of the room, high up near the ceiling were small CCTV cameras, there red lights blinking in the dim light.

"Someone will be with you soon; take a seat. Do you want a drink?" the soldier asked firmly but politely.

"Yes, please. Tea one sugar please." The guard left and Harry sat at the table and desk. He pushed the chair back and swung his feet up onto the table and leant back. He smiled and waved at the camera and shut his eyes. He spoke to Hermione through their bond.

#_You alright love?#_

_#Yeah, been taken to a cell and told to wait. You?#_

_#Same, I guess they are trying to spook us 'Mione.#_

_#Yeah I know, but they have my mum, and they have threatened Cassie...#_

_#Mione, don't worry. If needs be we can be out of here in an instant, and despite everything I don't believe that they would actually hurt either your mother or Cassie. They are just trying to get us to talk.#_

_#What do you think they want Harry?# _

_#Well they said 'National Security' but who know what that means!#_

_#Okay, so what do we do next Harry?#_

_#Well let's keep calm and let them make the first move. It will irritate them if they think they are not getting to us, and irritated people make mistakes.#_ Harry thought. Hermione laughed at his thought and the conversation moved on to more happy thoughts. As they communicated they were both smiling and laughing with each other, aware that this would be infuriating the watching people.

Elsewhere in the complex two men were watching a bank of monitors showing the interiors of four cells. Major Stewart was sat with Captain Yates watching the live feeds.

"Sir, something is not right. Subject three and four are acting as expected." He said pointing to tow of the monitors. One showed Luna sat on the bed with her knees up to her chest as she looked worried and scared. The other showed Dumbledore standing and shouting at the cameras. He had been doing that since he got there, yelling about his rights and that the government was corrupt and that they couldn't keep him here against his will. They had got bored after a while and turned the volume down. It was the other two monitors that had them worried.

"Subject one and two are not acting as we expected, sir." He said as he looked at the images. One monitor showed Hermione laughing at some silent joke and then Harry smile in response

"Yes Yates, it's like they are talking to each other. This is wrong, something is not quite right. I'm going in to speak to the male, coming?" he said after a while.

"Sir, that's against procedure..."

"Yates, who wrote the procedure?"

"You sir, coming sir." Yates replied with a resigned voice. He knew that his commanding office, whilst an honourable man was not one for waiting around, but was rather a 'doing' kind of soldier.

Major Stewart left the control room and walked quickly down to the holding cells with Yates following behind. He got to the correct cell and the guard stood outside saluted. The Major signalled for the door to be opened and as soon as he had done so he moved to one side to allow the two officers to enter the cell. Harry was sat on his chair with his feet up on the table. He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at the two men as they entered and swung his feet down. The guard came into the room carrying two extra chairs which he placed on the opposite side of the table to Harry and left, shutting the door behind him.

The two men sat and looked at Harry for a few seconds before Major Stewart began the conversation.

"Mr Potter, I am Major Stephen Stewart. I do apologise for the manner in which we brought you here but we needed to speak to you and your friends."

Harry regarded the man with cold green eyes but said nothing.

"Now Mr Potter, there is no need for hostilities…."

"No need?! No need! Ha that's rich coming from someone who had threatened my 'friends' mother and sister if we did not come along. Not to mention the stress caused both to ourselves and our other friends."

"Threatened? Who threatened your friend's mother and sister?" he asked in a concerned voice. Harry's eyes landed on the Captain sat next to the Major, who by now had turned to regard his subordinate with angry eyes.

"Captain, you threatened a young child as well as Mrs Granger?"

"Well, not exactly sir…" the now worries Captain began.

"How 'not exactly' Yates. Nowhere did I say to threaten anyone." He thundered at the younger man. "We will speak of this later Captain."

"Yes Sir, Sorry sir!" the Captain responded, knowing he was in for a tough afternoon.

"Mr Potter, I find myself having to apologise to you for my Captain's conduct. I give you my word as a British officer that no harm will come to you, Miss Granger or her mother or sister whilst you are in my care."

"Don't apologise to me, you need to apologise to Hermione."

"Come now Mr Potter, I am very aware of your ability to communicate with your young friend. I am sure she has just heard my apology." The Major gambled.

_#Careful Harry, he's trying to catch you out!#_ Hermione warned him.

Harry's eyes had momentarily widened at the comment before he pulled a poker face and looked at the Major. "Sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about." He told him.

However the Major had caught the micro expression that had taken hold of Harry face. 'Gotcha!' he thought to himself.

"What is it, some sort of Telepathy?" he asked deadpan

"Sorry sir, I have no idea what you are talking about!" Harry replied once more.

"Very well. I will have to apologise to Miss Granger personally then." He nodded to Yates who stood and walked to a panel on the wall. He inputted a code and the wall of the cell slid back to reveal the adjacent cell containing Hermione.

"Will you join us Miss Granger please." The Major asked.

"It's Mrs Potter actually." Hermione said as she moved her chair over and sat next to Harry. The Major raised an eyebrow at the declaration but nodded. Harry had briefly hugged Hermione as she moved her chair over and took her hand in his.

"Very well Mrs Potter. Welcome and as I was saying to Mr Potter, I apologise for my Captains threat to your mother and sister. He was out of order and I will take him to task later for it. Your mother is been entertained by one of my officers. Your sister will be met from school by another one of my officers and brought to your mother. They will be unharmed; you have my word on it."

"Thank you Sir, may I ask why we are here?" Hermione asked. "I wasn't aware that visiting eccentric physics professors was an event that the military took an interest in."

The Major smiled briefly before looking at the two sat in front of him. He had to admit that they were a stunning looking couple, with identical piecing green eyes, and both had a strong commanding presence.

"Well Mr and Mrs Potter, if that is who you both really are. I'm sure you can guess why we need to speak to you."

"What do you mean, if that is who we really are?" Harry asked.

"Come now Mr Potter, don't make the mistake of assuming that we are stupid. We have done our research. Mr Harry Potter was killed in a terrorist explosion when he was just over one year old, along with his parents. And Miss Granger was killed in a road traffic accident when she was nine years old. So let's drop this silly act and tell us who or what you really are." Harry felt Hermione's hand stiffen in his and he was aware that she was suddenly very worried.

"I can assure you that my name really is Harry Potter and my wife really is Hermione Potter, nee Granger." Harry told him in some anger.

"We can clear this up very easily. When we picked you both up, we took a quick sample of your blood whilst you were in the helicopter... Don't worry you would not of felt anything, but we can use it to check your identity. We have developed something called DNA fingerprinting, it's very new but it will tell us who you really are. We have samples of all of our ex-police officers on file and we can use that to check against you're 'parents' Mr Potter, and of course Mrs Granger was keen to help us..."

"You Bastard! You said you would not harm her." Hermione shouted at him.

"We didn't Mrs Potter, she consented to help. I told you on my honour that she would not be harmed and I am a man of my word. Now you two however are a different matter." As he was speaking there was a slight knock on the door and a soldier entered with a small file in his hands.

"Ah good the results. Now we shall find out who you both really are..." As he spoke he was reading the results of the test. "Impossible! There must be a mistake!" he said to the soldier.

"Sorry sir, they repeated the test three times, no mistake."

"Thank you Benton, you may leave." Stewart said in a shocked voice.

"Problems Major?" Hermione asked.

"Well I don't know how you both did it, but the DNA results have confirmed your identities. You are who you say you are, but that leaves us with a bigger question. How? You are both dead, we have the post-mortem results for the both of you."

Neither teen said anything.

"Well?" the Major asked.

"You would not believe us if we told you!" Harry replied.

"What, is it something to do with your ability to vanish in one place and re-appear in another?" he asked.

Harry and Hermione looked shocked for a few seconds, before putting on their best poker faces.

"We don't know what you mean." Hermione said.

The Major smiled and motioned to his Captain who stood and opened the door. He returned a few seconds later with a trolley. On the trolley was a small TV and a video recorder. He plugged it in and inserted a red video tape. Pressing play the TV sprang to life showing the exterior yard of the Leaky Bucket pub in London.

_#Harry!#_

_#Don't panic love, it will be fine#_

_#But that's a CCTV recording. If they recorded...#_ she broke of as the TV showed two people enter the yard. They spoke for a few seconds before vanishing. It was clearly them. The video moved on to a view from a helicopter. It was the Granger's family home and it showed the back garden. The camera operator zoomed in and it clearly showed Harry and Hermione exit the building, take each other's hand and vanish.

Major Stewart leant across and stopped the tape. "Well?" he asked, his eyebrows arched.

_#SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! Harry what do we do? How could we be so stupid?#_

_#Mione calm down. We will figure something out. For now play dumb!#_

"Very clever special effects Major!" Harry said with a cheeky smile.

"Mr Potter, don't take me for a fool. The fist footage was recorded from a CCTV camera and our people have been over it with a fine toothcomb. It is genuine, and the second was recorded this morning by one of my men. Now what are you both and why are you here? Don't think we won't believe you, you see I head a small but important section of the military designed to look out for the unusual and strange, and you two hit both targets."

_#Okay Mione, we have a problem. Any suggestions?#_

_#Tell him the truth?#_

_#Do you really think that will work? Plus when we tell him about the world going to explode in a few months time...#_

_#Okay maybe not. How about removing his memory?#_

_#That would work for a while, but these interviews will be been recorded. I don't know how to destroy all of the recordings.#_

_#So, what do we have left?#_

_#We run for it#_

_#What about the others and my Mum and Sister?#_

_#We take 'em with us. You should be able to phase to Jean and Cassie. We know that Luna and Albert are nearby. We phase to them, take them with us and run.#_

_#Okay, when?#_

_#You'll know. You go get your mum and sister and I'll get the others. We meet at your Mums house, and put it under a Fidelius charm.#_

The entire conversation had taken seconds and Major Stewart was still looking for a reply.

"Well Mr Potter, I am waiting."

Harry looked up and smiled. "I'm very sorry about this, but you see we have to leave now."

"Mr Potter, neither you nor your 'wife' are going anywhere just yet. We have many people eager to meet you both." He said, the last part of the sentence said as a veiled threat.

Harry just smiled and with an almost silent click he released his wand. "Stupefy!" he shouted, stunning the Major whilst Hermione did the same for the Captain. Harry whirled around and blasted the camera in the corner of the room twirling on the spot as he destroyed the other three. Once done he looked around and sealed the door before anyone came in to see what the noise was about. He then destroyed the video tape and checked on the two soldiers. Happy that they were well he looked over at Hermione.

"Found them yet?" he asked her. He KNEW that Hermione would be able to sense her mother and sister, how he wasn't sure but he was aware that even in this magic-less world there powers were still growing in strength.

"Cassie is still at school, but leaving soon. Mum is a few floors up and under guard." She said after a moments concentration.

"You will be okay?" he asked her.

"No Problem. See you at Mums." And she phased away. Harry concentrated on Luna, and found her signature just two cells away. He phased to her cell and as soon as he arrived he destroyed the video camera and went to sit next to the small girl, who was still sat with her knees clutched to her chest.

"Luna, it's okay. It Harry and we are getting out of here."

Luna raised her head and Harry looked at her tear streaked face. She smiled at Harry with a look of relief. "Oh Harry, it's so good to see you. I have been so worried."

"Hey, didn't I say you would be fine. Now all we need to do is find Dumbledore and then we are getting out of here." He said aware that despite his powers he wouldn't be able to locate this Dumbledore as he did not know the man that well.

"He's next door Harry, He has been shouting so loudly, but he went quite a little while ago. I think the guards are a bit annoyed with him."

Harry stood and brought Luna up with him. Holding her hand he 'phased' them both to the next cell. Albert Dumbledore was sat on the bed, handcuffed and gagged. He looked at Harry with wide eyes as the two of them 'phased' into the room. Harry once more blasted the cameras and removed the cuffs and gag.

"I'm so sorry sir that you got mixed up in this."

"Don't worry my boy. Apart from the cuffs and gag, I've never had such an exciting time. Are we leaving?"

"Yes Sir, are you ready?"

"And are we going the same way you two arrived?" he asked in an excited voice.

"Yes Sir, Mione and I call it 'Phasing'." He told the excited physics professor.

"Wow, well come on them boy, let's move."

Harry smiled and took hold of the elder mans arm. He held Luna hand tightly and they all 'phased' away, landing in the middle of the Grangers lounge.

"You two put the kettle on, I have to place wards around the house. Once the military realise we have left then they will try to find us again, and you can bet they will be annoyed." As he spoke Hermione phased into the room with her mother holding onto her arm. Jean was looking very annoyed as she let go of her daughter and nearly fell into the chair next to her.

"Any problems love?" he asked.

"None to speak of Harry. I still have to find Cassie. If you hide the house and make yourself the secret keeper. I will meet you outside and you can let me in."

"Okay love." Harry watched at Hermione 'phased' away leaving a very startled Mrs Granger looking at him with some fear but mainly anger in her eyes. "Harry Potter, what the hell is going on?" she asked him. Harry gulped as he faced his enraged mother-in-law.

Hermione smiled as she felt her husband's discomfort. She was glad he was there to explain the situation to her mother. Jean had been very surprised when Hermione had 'phased' into the room she was been held in. Hermione had stunned the guard. When her mother had asked for an explanation all that Hermione had told her was "later!" she had grabbed her mother's arm and they had both 'phased' to Hermione's house.

Disillusioning herself whilst in the middle of the phase she thought of her sister. Feeling her presence she moved to the location she knew well. As she appeared out of the 'phase' she looked around and recognised that she had arrived in the school playground. School was just finishing and the children were leaving the building, laughing and joking as they left. This was the same junior school that Hermione had attended, but the time she had spent there was not a happy time. She shuddered as she looked at the familiar buildings stood in front of her. Shaking of the unhappy memories she spotted Cassie walking with some of her friends. As they walked towards the exit, Hermione had spotted the large military vehicle and a female soldier exiting the car. Desperate to avoid a confrontation Hermione cast a quick cutting curse on her sister's school bag forcing its contents to spill on the floor.

"Bugger!" I'll catch you up!" she heard Cassie yell to her friends as she bent to pick up the bags contents. Hermione moved over to her sister and bent down next to her.

"Cassie, don't scream, it's Hermione." She whispered. Cassie looked around in surprise. "Mione?" she asked in a whisper.

"You won't be able to see me, but we need to get you out of her. Harry and I ran into a little problem and now we have the military looking for us. See that woman waiting at the gates? Yes? She is about to take you away and hold you to make me and Harry comply with them. We didn't like that idea so we ran for it. We need to get you away from her. I going to hold your hand and you will feel a little odd, but it will be okay."

Cassie nodded and Hermione cast a Notice-me-not charm on the girl. Holding on to her she extended the disillusionment charm to include her sister and they both phased away to appear outside the street where she knew they lived. As she couldn't remember the exact address she knew that Harry must have completed the Fidelius charm on the house.

"Where are we Mione and where is our house. I cannot remember where I live?" Cassie asked, getting a little distressed.

"Don't worry Cassie. Harry has hidden the house, but we need him to show us where it is. I'll call him."

_#Harry, we are outside in the street. Can you come and find us.#_ she told him. As she looked around and seeing that there was no one around; she gently removed the disillusionment charm and waited. After a minute or so, she spotted Harry walking towards them. He seemed to suddenly appear from nowhere. He smiled at them and handed them both a slip of paper. "Read this Cassie" Hermione told her confused sister.

'_The Grangers live at 31 Bramble Hill, Crawley' _they both read. As soon as they read the note, they saw the house shimmer and appear in front of them, the houses on either side seemingly moving out off the way for the new arrival in the street.

"Wow!" Cassie said. "That's bloody amazing!"

"Language young lady!" Hermione admonished her sister, with a faint smile. "And don't think I didn't hear that 'Bugger' in the playground. Come on lets go inside."

The three of them walked towards the house and entered via the front door. If Hermione was expecting a happy welcome, then she was sorely disappointed. Her mother was not a happy camper and as soon as Hermione had shut the door her mother started yelling.

"Hermione Jean Granger..."

"Potter mum!"

"...Potter, what the hell is going on? Why did that soldier kidnap me? Where were we? Who is that gentleman with Luna in the lounge? Are we safe?" she asked in one long breathless question.

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Now I know where you get it from." He sniggered.

"Laugh it up fuzz ball!" Hermione growled at him, quoting from one of her favourite movies. "You were supposed to explain things to her."

"Well I thought that the explanations would wait until you got home." He said sheepishly.

"You chickened out? Death Eaters, Voldemort all fine but you're scared of my mother?"

Harry at least had the good grace to blush as his wife looked at him with some amusement. "Come 'ere you big twit!" she said as she pulled him into a hug, kissing him passionately as she did so.

"Oi, you two, kissing later - explanations now!" Jean huffed. Breaking apart, Hermione managed to look contrite as she blushed. "Let's all go to then lounge and we can explain everything to you there." She said as they walked to the sitting room. As they entered they saw that Luna and Dumbledore had made tea and were pouring a cup for them as they sat.

"Mrs Granger, Tea?" Albert asked.

"Yes Mr?..."

"Sorry, I am Professor Albert Dumbledore, senior lecturer of physics at Oxford University."

"Okay, yes I would like tea."

"Good, milk?"

"Yes Albert"

"One lump or two?" he asked with a grin. Hermione sighed as she looked up.

"Enough of that Sir, she'll have milk and one sugar, can we all sit down please." Hermione huffed.

Once they all had tea in their hands, everyone looked at Harry and Hermione awaiting an explanation.

"Mum, we are both sorry that you had to go through that, but it seems that the authorities have found out about our magic and wanted to speak to us. We decided that that wasn't a good idea as I'm sure they had plenty of people wanting to dissect is to see what made magic possible, so we escaped. They were going to hold both you and Cassie to ensure our compliance and that wasn't acceptable. We have put this house under a special sort of charm that means no one can see or even remember where we are so you all are perfectly safe here. However it does mean that none of you can leave for the time been and that you are all stuck here. We have to travel to Europe to find the centaurs. We need help otherwise Luna prediction will come to pass. Professor Dumbledore confirmed it, if we don't do something that the whole galaxy may explode."

As Hermione finished talking she was aware of the open mouthed expression of her mother and sister's face, and the look of resignation on Luna's and Dumbledore's.

"Shit!" Cassie said, earning a glare from her mother and sister.


	22. Chapter 21 - Flight from the Wolves

**A/N REally sorry for the long wait. Bit of a lemon in this chapter so beware.**

**Chapter Twenty One – Flight from the wolves.**

The following morning Jean was up making breakfast and trying to come to terms with recent events. She was over the moon by the return on her daughter, but the events surrounding that return scared her. Her family was in danger and they were hiding from the countries government as well as the army; magic was real and her daughter was a witch. More amazingly the world and the timeline wasn't right, time had been altered and if her daughter and her Husband (?) didn't put it right the world and possibly the whole cosmos would end in a fiery explosion. Worst than that, if possible was the news that if they put the timelines back where they were supposed to be, her beloved other daughter would not even exist, she would never have exisited. This news was tempered by the revelation that her husband Roger was still supposed to be alive, but how could she be happy for one at the expense of the other?

Jean sighed as she made the tea and coffee; the odd professor had told her that if the magical pair were successful then she would have no memory of this timeline anyway so not to worry about it; but that seemed overly callous; so worry she did.

"Morning Mum." Cassie said as she came down the stairs. "I guess I'm not going to school today?" she asked.

Jean shook her head and grimaced. "No I guess not, don't worry though, I'm sure I have some of my old school books and with the Professor around we can school you at home."

Cassie's eyes widened and she groaned loudly. "Bugger!"

"Cassandra Granger! Language young lady!" her mother admonished.

"Sorry mum!" Cassie said, blushing furiously.

"Did you really think that we were going to let you just slob around the house whilst we sort this mess out?" she asked her daughter.

Cassie just sniffed and tried to change the subject. "Any sign of the golden couple?" she asked with a grin.

"Don't call them that, but no, I guess they were a bit tired after yesterday's events." Jean replied.

Truth was the 'Golden Couple' were very much awake and it was only due to a silencing charm that the whole house wasn't aware of the intense orgasm that Hermione was currently in the middle of. They had been making love for the last hour and this was the third release that Harry had managed to bring his wife to, and judging by the noise she was making; it seems the most intense.

"Sweet Fucking Merlin!" Hermione yelled as she felt all her muscles quiver and her pussy clamped around Harry's member as it slid in and out of her. "Cum for me Harry!" she yelled at him as he grunted and emptied himself deep inside her. Exhausted they fell onto each other, kissing each other gently.

"Wow, that was...wow!" Hermione said unintelligently.

"Yeah, I know. Merlin - I love you!" Harry told her whilst gently kissing along her jaw-line.

"And I love you my husband." She told him, her green eyes flashing with love and power.

"We had better get cleaned up and downstairs, you did use a locking charm as well as a silencing one? We don't want your little sister calling on us again do we?" he asked her.

At the glare she gave him, he gulped. "Off course you did dear, sorry."

"And I used a contraception charm; we don't need any little Potters just yet my love. Now shower, you stink!" she told him.

"No love, WE stink!" he retorted as she stood. She looked lovingly at his naked body, still covered in sheen of sweat. Since there bonding he had filled out and now looked amazing. There will still evidence of scars on his body, but in her mind they just made him look more desirable to her – roguish even.

She jumped up and threw on a robe and they entered the bathroom that they had added to their room last night. They had also altered the bed so it more closely resembled the one they had in the manor, as well as decorating the room so it more suited their tastes. As the warm water washed away the evidence of their love making, she sighed contentedly. For the moment all that existed was her, Harry and the water, and she could briefly relax. She shivered as Harry moved to wash her back and hair, and shivered even more when he turned her around and washed her front. She groaned lustily, surprised that such a wanton sound could come from her, as her hand grasped his manhood tightly. He lifted her bodily up and gently lowered her onto himself. She sighed in satisfaction as he began to move within her. She shut her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of been filled completely. Harry was been quick and she could feel her climax approach her. She threw her head back and cried out his name in a faltering voice. Harry buried his head in the crook of her neck as he filled her with his seed. He was panting into her neck sending goose-bumps down her back. She gingerly lowered herself to her shaking feet and they both finished getting washed. Ten minutes later they were both dressed and heading down to the kitchen. They bumped into Professor Dumbledore on the way.

"Morning Prof!" Harry said.

"Good morning Mr Potter, please don't call me 'Prof', it's either Albert or Professor." He said with a grin.

"Okay-Dokey Prof" Harry replied with a cheeky grin.

Albert laughed a little. "Why, you are in a good mood this morning young Harry." He said, wondering why his comment promoted blushing in both teens.

"Oh no reason Prof, just looking forward to breakfast." He said as he led his young wife down the stairs. They all entered the kitchen to find Cassie sat with Luna who had just beaten them down and Jean stood by the cooker with some bacon in a pan. Hermione moved to the coffee machine and made herself an Americano and Harry his favourite, a Cappuccino. Handing over the drinks she took a seat next to him and stuck her tongue out at her sister, who was sat with her empty mug held high waving it as she watched her sister sit down.

"Bugg... Sorry Mum, damm!" she said as she stood to make her own. Luna giggled at the interplay between the two girls.

"So you three, what are your plans to save the world?" Cassie asked when she sat back down again. "And will I survive?" she asked in a more quiet voice. Hermione grimaced at the last comment but squared her shoulders and looked her sister in the eye.

"Cassie, if we succeed in this I don't know what will happen to you, I hope you will be okay, but I won't lie to you; there is a chance you will cease to exist, to cease to have ever existed. That said if we do nothing and Albert is right then nothing will survive anyway. What would you have us do?" she asked,

Jean had looked up at the conversation and was stood with tears in her eyes as she listened.

Cassie opened and closed her mouth a few times before looking at her sisters deep green eyes. They were really a mesmerising colour that seemed to alter with her mood.

"I don't know 'Mione, I really don't know. Promise me, if there is a way to keep me alive you will take it?" she asked. Hermione nodded, before throwing her arms around the younger girl and crying into her shoulder. Cassie found herself in the awkward position of having to comfort her own big sister.

"Hey 'Mione, it's going to be fine." She cooed as she stroked her sister's hair. "I know you will fight for me and I love you for that." She said hoping that this would make her elder sister feel better, but judging from the increase in the sobs she could hear, the opposite was true. She looked around for help but as her mother was also crying, there was no help to be had there. Harry nodded at her and gently took Hermione off her; Hermione wrapped her arms around her husband as if in a trance and sobbed her heart out. Harry just held her as she cried until she quietened and fell quiet in his arms. Cassie was in her mother's arms and was sat looking at the pair with red rimmed eyes. Luna and Albert were looking on, both with serious looks on their faces.

Albert had been about to say that it would be impossible to keep Cassie alive if the timelines reverted back but for some reason Luna had gripped his hand and shook her head with an odd look on her face. After a while Hermione raised her head and smiled a watery smile at the room.

"Sorry everyone, I guess the last few days just caught up with me." Harry just smiled and cupped her chin and raised her head so he could first kiss away the tears and then kissed her mouth.

"Don't worry love, we will all be okay." He told her. They all sat back down and breakfast resumed. After they had all eaten, Jean took the bull by the horns.

"So what is your next step in solving our little problem?" she asked.

"Well we need to find the centaurs, problem is we don't know where to look exactly; we know somewhere in Romania but not exactly where, and that presents us with a travel problem. We can't just phase to the location where the closest tribe is as we don't know where we are going. Muggle transport will be a problem as we don't have passports." Harry said.

"What we need is an expert on 'mythical' creatures who can tell us where to look." Hermione mused, tapping her cheek as she thought.

"What about Robert?" Albert asked. "He's into that sort of thing, even been on a few exhibitions to try to find them."

"Robert? Who's Robert?" Harry asked.

"Dr Robert Hagrid, a close friend of mine..."

"Hagrid? You've gotta be kidding, giant of a man, gentle?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Well, I wouldn't say giant, I mean he's tall and like a lot of tall people he's a bit of a gentle person, why do you know him?" Albert asked.

"Well in our timeline we know a Rebeus Hagrid; he's a half giant and a good friend. It can't be the same man...can it?" she asked.

"Well I don't know about a Rebeus, but Robert is a Doctor of Biology and wild animal studies over at the university. He should be a professor, but for some reason the funding was cut to his department. This of course had nothing to do with his obsession with Centaurs and the fact that he thinks they must be real." He said the last part of his sentence with a wry grin.

"Well, he does sound like our Hagrid, but where will we find him?" Harry asked.

"Well he's normally pottering around the campus, but if we go there wont the military find us. I mean they will be watching the place won't they?" he asked.

Hermione smiled and looked over at Harry. He waved his hand over the Professor transforming him into a much younger man, with dark hair and a dark beard. His clothes changed to resemble what students were wearing these days. They then both waved their hands over each other, Hermione's hair changed to a blonde bob cut and her features altered to resemble Susan Bones, wear as Harry altered himself to look more like Seamus.

There was a clearing of a throat from Luna, who was looking at them, tapping her face with her hand. Harry grinned at her and waved hand over her. She morphed into looking like Padma Patil, complete with colourful sari. Cassie looked up hopefully, but Jean soon put a stop to that.

"Not a chance Cassie, you are staying here with me. We have lessons today."

"Aww Mum! You're not a teacher!" Cassie whined.

"No, but I did some teaching when I was at Uni and that's good enough for me. Now go get your books and meet me down here. We will put a timetable together." She told her daughter.

Cassie scowled as she stomped up the stairs to get her books. Jean turned to her elder daughter.

"Don't suppose it makes any difference but please be careful." She told her as she hugged her.

"We'll try mum." Hermione said as she hugged her mother back.

After a while Albert stood up and grunted. "Okay are we off, I guess we will be, what did you call it – Phasing; to get there?" he asked.

"Yes but we need to decide where to go." Harry told him.

"Well I assumed my office would be okay?" Albert replied with a frown.

"Don't think that would be a good idea. We know the military are looking for us and we can assume that they will be watching your office as well as Cassie's school. Even with our disguises they will be alarmed when four people arrive out of thin air in the middle of your office." Harry told him with a wry grin.

"Do you really think they would dare to bug my office?" Albert asked in an annoyed voice.

"I would!" Hermione said with aplomb.

"Bugger! I guess you're right." Albert grumbled.

"So where would you suggest we arrive. We need somewhere quiet and where we would not be seen."

"Does it need to be on the campus?" Luna asked.

"No why?" Harry said.

"Well, why don't we arrive at the fields to the back of the campus and walk there?" Luna said.

"Yeah Harry, that's not a bad idea. The only thing that would see us is a few cows." Albert said. Hermione snorted a laugh causing everyone to look at her.

"It's nothing, except Harry has problems appearing in fields full of cows; they seem to like him."

Harry glared at her as she laughed at him, before he suddenly lunged at her tickling her as he did. Everyone laughed at the pairs antics but soon they were all stood in the kitchen ready to go. Harry held Luna hand and Hermione held onto Albert. Harry asked Luna to imagine to field and he then took Hermione's other hand. With a quiet pop they all vanished. Jean watched the empty space that they had previously occupied for a few seconds before sighing and turning to head upstairs to find her new reluctant student.

D.O.M. D.O.M. D.O.M.

As a small group of people walked across a field, three of them were laughing at the fourth member of the group as he lagged behind trying to get rid a friendly cow that insisted on following the young wizard.

"Go on, go! Leave me alone!" Harry yelled at the cow. "Come on you three, this isn't funny!" he whined.

"Yeah! It is!" Hermione giggled as she watched her husband try to get rid of his bovine friend.

The other two sniggered at Harry as the cow chased him around in a circle. By now they had all got to the field gate and the three of them had climbed over it and had turned to watch the young man's attempts at evading the amorous bovine. Harry ran around the field and practically flew over the gate in order to escape.

"Why me?" he asked the world in general. No answer was forthcoming.

"Aww Harry, look she's missing you!" Hermione teased as they walked away. Harry glared at her and chased her along the pathway, Hermione hooting with laughter as she ran.

"You wouldn't think that they are the most powerful people on the planet would you?" Luna asked as the other two observed the young couples antics.

Albert laughed and soon the four of them were all walking along the pathway towards the campus. Harry was arm in arm with Hermione and Albert and Luna followed them from behind with amused looks on their faces as they watched the two lovers swing their hands as they walked. Quickly they arrived at the campus as Albert then took the lead. They followed the man through the paved areas that surrounded the old buildings and soon found themselves in a more modern looking building on the far edge of the campus.

"The biology unit is a new unit, the old one fell down." Albert explained as he walked up the stairs to the building. The others nodded, unsure on where they were going. Albert led them down seemingly endless corridors that all looked the same until he got to a door with the name Doctor Robert Hagrid –PhD engraved in it. Beneath it was a photocopied sheet with the words "Biologists do it with live ones!" crudely written on it. Albert laughed as he read the notice and sharply knocked on the door.

"Come in!" came a familiar voice from inside the room. Harry looked up quickly at Hermione who grinned back at him. Albert opened the door and let the four of them into the large room beyond. The room was largely empty except for a large cluttered desk and an old tattered leather sofa in front of it. Sat at the desk was a large man, as he saw the four people enter his room, he stood. He was well over six feet tall, but was a slim man with a clean shaven face. He looked in his mid to late forties and had friendly dark eyes that now were looking confused at the group in front of him. Despite the differences in his appearance both Harry and Hermione as well as Luna recognised the man as the one they knew in the other timeline.

"Hello? Do I know you people?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"Robert! It's me Albert!" Albert said in a confused voice.

"Err Prof, you are disguised!" Harry whispered to him.

"Oh yeah! Robert, I need you to listen. It is me, Albert Dumbledore but I do not look like me. Now I need you to stay calm and not to panic." He told the confused Doctor. Hagrid was reaching for his phone in order to call security.

"Wait!" Hermione yelled and Harry waved his hand over the physics professor. Albert's form blurred and he was soon restored to his original form; quickly Harry repeated the process and the other three quickly reassumed there natural forms. Doctor Hagrid gawped at the professor and the others and dropped the phone on the desk in surprise. Hermione quickly walked over and replaced the handset.

"Whoa! What the hell was that?" the confused man asked.

"Robert, it really is me. This is a friend of mine Harry Potter, his wife Hermione and you may remember my other young friend, Luna Lovegood. Harry and Hermione are ...special." he said, fading at the end as he didn't know how to explain their magic.

"Albert? Is that you? You do know we are supposed to report any sighting of you as soon as we see you. You are accused of kidnapping this young woman." He said pointing to Luna.

"Those bloody sods!" Albert ranted. Luna looked at the younger Doctor and smiled at him.

"As you can see I am quite alright and here by my own will. You are been fed a tissue of lies in order for the military to get their hands on us again."

Robert nodded at the information, unsure of what to do with it; but quickly moved onto other issues.

"How did you do that disguise thing Albert? I've never seen anything like it." He asked in an awed voice.

"You had better sit down my friend. This may be hard for you to believe, but my disguise was done by magic." Albert said in a patient voice. Robert snorted and laughed loudly.

"Albert if you don't want to tell me then that's fine; but it doesn't help with the trust issue. You have been described as a dangerous predator of women and not to be approached."

Albert sighed and looked at Harry for support. Harry turned to the biologist and pulled out his wand.

"Doctor Hagrid, Professor Dumbledore is telling you the truth, it really was done with magic – watch." And he waved his wand causing the desk that was in front of the large man to rise into the air. Robert gasped and quickly stood moving away for the desk. He waved his large hand over the desk looking for hidden wires. Finding nothing he looked under the desk.

"How did you do that?" he asked the young man when he stood once more.

"Magic Sir, and there's more. With a shrug he blurred into his Siberian tiger form and prowled around the room, growling as he did.

Robert fell back into his chair and looked astonished and a little frightened. With a blur Harry reappeared and calmly walked over to the man and put his hand on his shoulder. Robert flinched away but was soon reassured that Harry was real.

"I'm sorry for scaring you sir, but we needed to convince you quickly. We mean you no harm, in fact we need your help sir." Harry told the stunned man.

"My help? What can I do to help YOU?" he asked in an odd voice.

Harry laughed at the incredulity that was etched on the older man's face. "May we sit down sir, this is going to take a while to explain." He asked. Robert nodded and Harry conjured two chairs and a small love seat for himself and Hermione. Robert swore as he witnessed this and reached into his desk drawer. Pulling out a battered silver hip flask he took a long drag on it and winced as the strong liquor hit the back of his throat. Taking the opportunity Hermione sealed the door and cast a 'notice-me-not' charm on the door so they would not be disturbed.

Twenty minutes later, Robert was taking another drag of his flask and had lit a cigarette held in his shaking hand.

"Given these up but wow...that's amazing. And you know the other me?"

"Yes sir, you are one of my closest friends." Harry told him.

"And I'm magical in this other timeline?"

"Uh-huh" Harry nodded.

"And a half giant?"

"Yup, but that's not held against you by most decent people."

"And I teach what?"

"Care of Magical Creatures, you are a professor."

Hagrid nodded with a confused but awed look on his face.

"But I am confused; I still don't understand why you need my help. What can I do? I'm just a biology teacher in this timeline. I have no magic to help you."

"No Sir, but you do have knowledge. You can help us find some people to help us find a way to reverse what has been done. We need to find the centaurs and you I'm told are the only man who can help us do that." Harry told him.

"Oh Bugger!" Hagrid said.


End file.
